Day 29 - Barcelona, Spain

Maggie Thompson
Jul 25, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Jul 26, 2024

Today is the Basilica La Sagrada Familia. Wiki: Sagrada Familia is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), in 2005 his work on Sagrada Família was added to an existing (1984) UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Works of Antoni Gaudí". On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.

On March 19, 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans. In 1939, Frances de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to go on with the material that was saved from Gaudí's workshop and that was reconstructed from published plans and photographs.

Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. Advancements in technologies such as computer-aided design and computerized numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress and construction passed the midpoint in 2010. In 2014, it was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death but this schedule was threatened by work slowdowns caused by the 2020–2021 depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026, though the announcement stated that work on sculptures, decorative details and a controversial proposed stairway on leading to what will eventually be the main entrance is expected to continue until 2034.

Also, all the visitors are paying to finish the church with their ticket

One downside to the completion is that the builders have to wipe out a whole block of buildings with stores and residences that have been there for hundreds of years. And it is not to make way for construction; it is so there is room for the cranes, with no foreseeable reclamation. The residents know they have the superior postion on the builders and are holding out for LOTS of money

SF will be the tallest church in the world when finished.

Four towers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) on each side equals twelve, representing the twelve apostles. There are four “neon” signs inside representing the four gospel writers.

The church is set up as a cross.

The church has three facades (Nativity, Passion, Glory) representing the life of Christ.

Two turtles at the bottom of the columns - one is a sea turtle because the water runs to the sea. The other turtle was a land turtle showing the way to the mountains.

Gaudi said they don’t need to paint anything in the church, the sun will do it. He also said straight lines don’t exist in nature.

There are so many intricacies in the church that I cannot possibly explain so I’m photo dumping.

The Passion side

The Passion Tower

The stain glass windows

On the street La Rambla (pickpocket capital of Europe) there’s a bench with two doors that open for coals to heat the bench in the winter. I’m pretty sure no one heats it anymore, but actually don’t know.

Casa Battlo: wiki - Casa Batlló is a building in the center of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times. There are no straight lines and there is a distinct aquatic theme.

We had to climb a large number of flights of stairs without knowing where we were headed, and then wow, we were on the roof with a great view! Martha was totally cussing Jerry the whole way up. But they had a bar up there, because who actually wants to climb to the roof???? So, she forgave him.

And only Jerry was really excited about this museum, he bought gold tickets, but we all went along. It was amazing!!!! We had iPads and headphones that told the story of the house from the original inhabitant’s perspective. Total coolness. It’s a must see bucket list item along with SF.