Park Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudi, is an iconic landmark in Barcelona. The park's construction started in the year 1900, and opened to the public in 1926. After 92 years, it still draws millions of visitors a year. Al Goodman visited the park to unfold the secret of its success.

It's a park like no other. High on a hill overlooking Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea. But unlike other hills and parks, this one has designs by the famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. It's named Park Guell, for the wealthy textile industrialist who paid for it. But here in Barcelona, they pronounce it Park Guell.

This expert on the park has been coming here since he was a boy.

JOAN ROCA DIRECTOR, BARCELONA HISTORY MUSEUM "The idea of creating such a place is unique. And that's why it's worth to visit, especially if you can see it quietly, peacefully."

Which can be a challenge. Even on rainy and cloudy days, the visitors pour in, from Barcelona and around the world. Two and a half million of them annually. Because there's nothing quite like this, back home.

AL GOODMAN BARCELONA, SPAIN "Park Güell is the second most-visited architectural site by Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, after his famed Sagrada Familia church. But the church is still under construction after 130 years. This place is finished."

The main work started back in 1900 and lasted only a few years. At first, it was supposed to be an upscale residential neighborhood, but then it became a public park. And much later, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

JOAN ROCA DIRECTOR, BARCELONA HISTORY MUSEUM "My favorite part of the park are the stairs. Because if you go down or if you go up, they really are enlarged and then narrow again, enlarge, narrow. That's a kind of symbol of life. It proved to be one of the most wonderful and unique places in the world because of its capacity to unify nature and culture. Religious and Pantheism. Classic and anti-classic. Europe and the world."

After more than a century standing, work is underway to rehabilitate and better protect certain sections of Gaudi's curvy, surprising inspirations.

Some say the park looks like a fairy tale. Others call it art nouveau. But in Barcelona, they think of it simply, and proudly, as their own. Al Goodman, CGTN, Barcelona, Spain.