Barcelona - Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family)

We actually set the alarm today as we had tickets to tour Sagrada Familia. We met the bus in Placa Catalunya and were driven passed 2 of Gaudi's houses that Aimee and I had decided we would walk by later. The bus stopped a couple of blocks away and we walked as a group, with our ear phones in so we could here the guide on the radio microphone system, following her orange umbrella.

I can't describe how impressive this is to come up to, towering over the streets
and buildings, dwarfing everything around. Then there are the crowds of people
milling and in line ups.

George and I took the public bus up here 3 years ago and then saw the huge lineups and realized we didn't have the time to see it. That's why Aimee and I booked a guided tour. I didn't want to stand in line for hours and I wanted to hear the story from someone that I could ask questions. It was well worth it.

Once inside the gates, the guide took us to a model to show us what the temple will
look like when it is completed.

Sagrada Familia was designed by Antoni Gaudi, probably Barcelona's most famous architect and he devoted his last 40 years to it. It has been under construction for the last 130 years and they anticipate completion by 2026. The construction, past and present, has been without government or church funding, entirely by donations and entrance fees.
There are currently 8 completed bell towers, Gaudi saw the completion of the first 4. They are on the 2 side facades. There will be 10 more, 4 at the front and 6 in the centre. In total they will represent the members of the holy family. The ones already built are 100 metres tall, the centre one (representing Jesus) will be nearly twice as high. The others in between the 2 heights.

Gaudi's architecture emulates nature. There are few straight lines and everywhere
you look you see flora and fauna.

We entered through the completed side, the side depicting the birth of Christ.

The nativity, over the entrance. The sides have statues of the shepherds and the 3 wise men.
Above are the angels. This is the oldest part and is already showing the effects of time, weather
and smog. It will need to be restored before the rest is completed.

The doors look as if they are entirely made of ivy, complete with bugs.

Gaudi designed the structure of the church but left the statues to someone else. He new he would not live to complete the structure and wanted the artists that followed him to complete the church and its decorations in the style of the time. It was to be organic, growing and changing as it grew.

Inside is a huge, open, airy space, lit mostly by natural light coming through
the stained glass windows.

Gaudi wanted the inside to resemble a forest with the pillars as trunks, topped by branches and a roof of leaves. The stained glass floods the interior with constantly changing light patterns and colours and the plain walls and floors are a canvas being painted by the moving sun.

When completed the church will hold 7,000 people on the main floor and another
1,000 in the balconies.

The inside of the church will not have paintings or other decorations that are
usually seen in Catholic Churches. The building, statues and glass are ornate enough.

Gaudi rejected the Gothic style with huge walls and flying buttresses. The weight of the structure of Sagrada
Familia and the weight of the bell towers above is all supported by these interior columns. The outside walls
do not support the structure but are like a skin for the building.

Guidi invented a type of column that is extremely strong, it is wider at the base and made of a double twist of material (stone or cement), breaking into branches and forming parabolic arches.

The stained glass windows have names of saints written in them.

The columns that will support the highest bell towers, in the centre, are made of the strongest stone
available, from Iran, and also basalt.

Out of the doors on the opposite side of the church and the style is much more
modern, although still not entirely completed.

This façade represents the crucifixion and death of Christ. When the front façade is completed it
will depict the resurrection.

Aimee and I chose to leave the tour at this point and continue to explore the church and its surroundings on our own.

Looking down into the crypt, underneath the altar. This area is currently being used as the
neighbourhood church. Although the pope has consecrated the temple, it is rarely used for
services.

Gaudi is buried in the crypt. He was run over by a tram, close to the church, when he was 74 years old.

Mathew, Mark, Luke and John will be represented by 4 bell towers and their names are
on the columns that will support then.

The interior is mostly completed thought you can see places where statues will
be added and stained glass is not yet installed. When finished there will be elevators
in the towers for visitors to take and see the fabulous views over Barcelona.

In a small side room there were displays about Gaudi's life and the influence of his love for nature
on his designs.

We walked  around the outside. It is almost impossible to take a picture without a crane in it.

Snakes, lizards, snails and shells form the downspouts.

Aimee and I set out from here to walk home through the Eixample neighbourhood. I think I will have to do a 2nd post for that. This is a long enough post and I am too tired to do anymore.