La Sagrada Familia - Past
And Future by Mike McDougall
La Sagrada Familia can be
found in Barcelona, in Catalonia in Spain and is renowned as Antoni Gaudi's
masterpiece.
Although thought of as a
cathedral, it is in fact, a basilica - the cathedral in Barcelona is the
Cathedral of Santa Eulalia.
Gaudi was handed the project
in 1884, but only after the founding association and the original choice
of architect Francesc del Villar had irreconcilable disagreements with
those behind the project.
Gaudi went back to the drawing
board and came back with a completely new design. He worked on the project
for more than 40 years and during the last 15 years of his life, he devoted
his entire efforts to it.
As
the building began to take shape, and reach further and further into the
sky, the building began to take on a much talked about fantastical shape
and the now world famous four spike shaped towers were crowned with geometrically
shaped tops that were most likely influenced by the Cubist movement. The
complicated decorations covering the basilica are rooted firmly with Art
Nouveau styles.
Unfortunately, in 1926, before
La Sagrada Familia could be completed, Antoni Gaudi died. The iconic towers
were originally intended to be three times higher than they were. At this
time, the Spanish Civil War broke out and parts of the unfinished basilica
and Gaudi's models and workshop were destroyed. No plans were left for
the completion of the building and since then, work has continued on it
with a variety of different architects, including Francesc Quintana and
Lluis Gari. Famous sculptors such as J. Busquets and the controversial
Josep Subirachs have work decorating the facades.
Work has continued on La
Sagrada Familia with the original plans being reconstructed from historical
notes and adapting it to modern times.
As
Gaudi intended, every part of the basilica's design is rich with Christian
symbolism. He wanted the church to be "the last great sanctuary of Christendom".
In all, there will be 18 of the striking towers, representing in ascending
order of height, the 12 Apostles, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary,
and tallest of all - Jesus Christ. The four Evangelists towers will be
topped with their traditional symbols, an angel, a bull an eagle and a
lion - representing St Luke, St Matthew, St Mark and St John accordingly.
The tallest tower will be surmounted by a huge cross.
There will be three grand
facades - the Nativity, the Passion and the unfinished Glory façade.
The Passion façade includes strikingly emaciated figures of Christ
being whipped and crucified and the doors on this façade reproduce
words from the Bible in various languages, including Catalan, and the Glory
façade is to be decorated with words from the Apostle's Creed.
La Sagrada Familia was the
most popular tourist attraction in the whole of Spain in 2004 with 2.26
million people visiting the unfinished building.
It is hoped that, with the
advent of quicker building technology than in the 1900's when La Sagrada
Familia was started, it will be finished in 2026 - the centenary of Gaudi's
death.
About the Author - Mike
McDougall works for Babylon Idiomas, a Spanish language institute with
schools in Spain [Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla], Argentina and
Costa Rica. For more information visit www.babylon-idiomas.com
As
the building began to take shape, and reach further and further into the
sky, the building began to take on a much talked about fantastical shape
and the now world famous four spike shaped towers were crowned with geometrically
shaped tops that were most likely influenced by the Cubist movement. The
complicated decorations covering the basilica are rooted firmly with Art
Nouveau styles.
As
Gaudi intended, every part of the basilica's design is rich with Christian
symbolism. He wanted the church to be "the last great sanctuary of Christendom".
In all, there will be 18 of the striking towers, representing in ascending
order of height, the 12 Apostles, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary,
and tallest of all - Jesus Christ. The four Evangelists towers will be
topped with their traditional symbols, an angel, a bull an eagle and a
lion - representing St Luke, St Matthew, St Mark and St John accordingly.
The tallest tower will be surmounted by a huge cross.