On a typical day, upwards of 3,000 tourists would stream through her home. But as Spain's near-total lockdown stretches beyond Easter, Ana Viladomiu has found herself weeks into living a near-solitary life in one of Barcelona's top tourist attractions.

For more than 30 years, Viladomiu has lived in La Pedrera, a modernist jewel built more than a century ago by famed architect Antoni Gaudí. The passing decades saw almost all the other tenants move out, supplanted by ever growing throngs of visitors lured by the building's rippling stone facade and knotted balconies.

Tours of the Unesco world heritage site came to a grinding halt last month as Spain began battling one of the world's deadliest coronavirus epidemics. "La Pedrera closed its doors and I stayed inside, like a guardian," said Viladomiu. "All I hear is my footsteps and silence."

Two other tenants remain in another part of the building - separated from Viladomiu with their own elevator and staircase - while a few security guards rotate through their shifts unseen. "So I'm really by myself," she said.