Vacation and Resort Reviews in Our Blog

Sagrada Família, Barcelona: An Eccentric Cathedral

April 13, 2007 Filed under: European Vacations — admin @ 7:53 am

The church of the Holy Family (the full name is Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) is a large Roman Catholic basilica located to the north of Barcelona’s Old City in the area called Eixample (Catalan for “extension”). The foundation for the basilica was laid in 1882, but the construction is not yet completed.

Francesc del Villar, the original author of the project, resigned in 1883 and the design was completely altered by the new head Antoni Gaudi. The medieval look of the original project was replaced by a mixture of Art-Nouveau, Modern, nature motives and Gaudi’s own spirituality.

The construction began on an open field a few miles away from the city. Gaudi worked for 40 years as the project’s architect, and his last 15 years were devoted completely to the basilica. When asked to comment the unusually long duration of the construction he answered: “My client does not hurry”.

As the construction advanced new fabulous features revealed themselves, such as spindle-like spires, sandcastle-reminiscent walls and arcs, and the roof topped with cubism-influenced elements.

Gaudi died in 1926. The construction was interrupted several times by the events of the Spanish Civil War, when the original design drawings were lost. The works were continued in 1940-s by architects Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig Boada, and Lluís Gari.

In 1990-s the still unfinished church caused intense disputes. A group of architects and city planners led by Oriol Bohigas advocated a discontinuance of any further works on the basilica. Nevertheless the construction went on but as a privately financed enterprise (money donated by conservative Spanish Catholics, as well as by some foreign donors especially from Japan). Another problem is caused by the availability of materials required to produce the eccentric forms of the cathedral. The computer model of the basilica showed that almost each stone block had to be adjusted and fit in a unique way. Therefore the further construction is extremely expensive and time consuming. The works are expected to be completed in 2026 – by the 100th anniversary of the death of Antoni Gaudi.

The unfinished construction site is, however, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Barcelona. A local newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya reports more than two million visitors in year 2006, which exceeds the number of tourists visited Museo del Prado or Alhambra.

Currently the treelike pillars of the central nave are already completed and the middle of the cathedral will be roofed in 2006. The towering main cupola will be more that 170 m height, which will make the cathedral the highest religious building in the world. Partially completed are twelve 115 towers symbolizing the twelve Apostles. These towers are accessible for tourists.