La Sagrada Familia

*Transcribed*

The architecture of this building is absolutely mind blowing. Gaudi was clearly a genius. La Sagrada Familia has been under construction for over 100 years and they’re hoping to complete it in the next 20 years depending on available funding and technology. Even if this was the only thing I saw in Barcelona it would have been well worth the trip! I hope you enjoy the pictures…

This was my initial view of the building; I’m not sure if the picture fully captures how huge this place is, but it’s massive! The second picture is the “Passion of Christ” facade. This side was done by another artist (not Gaudi). You start from the bottom left and work your way up in a reverse “S” shape. You see sculptures of the last supper, Judas betraying Jesus, the crucifixion of course and the burial. The last picture is the East facade which was done by Gaudi.

These are some pictures of the interior. You can see the massive pillars and finally the view as I looked up the staircase before I climbed the tower.

A few pictures as I was going up. The last one shows doves on one of the high points of the East facade.

A few of the towers notice how they say Excelsis and Hosanna on them! The second picture symbolizes the summer fruits; the towers on the other side have the winter fruits. The last pic is Barcelona of course.

These are the stone ‘balconies’ you stand on to get pictures of the city from the towers. Second picture is when you’re in the tower and you look down. Finally, it’s the staircase going down. Gaudi loved nature and much of this was reflected in his work; this winding staircase is meant to look like a sea shell.

Back inside. Again, to represent nature notice how the pillars look like tree trunks. They are in different colors because some of the pillars are coated with different materials to keep with Gaudi’s initial design specifications. When you look up, the pillars (trees) brand out and you can see the “leaves” at the top. You’ll also notice some mosaic glass pieces. This is so that when you look up, it looks like you’re seeing stars.

Some pictures of the East facade- in the first one you can see the nativity scene with the 3 wisemen on the left and the shepherds on the right coming to worship baby Jesus. There were much more details about this facade that of course I can’t really remember…

More pictures of the Passion facade. You’ll notice in the first picture there are a few subtle tributes to Gaudi in this facade such as: the sculpture of the man on the left is Gaudi himself and the helmets of the roman guards are the same as the chimney tops at La Pedrera. 2 interesting /unusual things to point out about this crucifixion sculpture is that A) Christ is naked and B) The cross is perpendicular to Christ, not parallel to him. I thought the second picture was very cool. It’s a sculpture of Judas’ betrayal kiss and a magic square! Sum the numbers in any row, column or quadrant and you’ll find they add up to 33 (the age Christ was when he was crucified). Finally, “What is the truth?” or maybe “Who is the truth?” I don’t know…very cool nonetheless…these are walls with a bunch of words engraved in them and certain words are emphasized.