Here are some incredible facts you need to know about this sacred space before visiting. Construction for the Sagrada Familia project began in While years is certainly a long time to build something, think about this: when La Sagrada Familia is completed, it will have taken longer to build than the Egyptian Pyramids, and only 50 years less than the Great Wall of China.
The school was built for the children of construction workers to attend while their fathers spent their days and nights building one of the most magnificent structures in all of Europe. Designed in , the school is now the site of an exhibition on the Sagrada Familia. Back when construction began in the late s, there were no computers or digital animation to rely on for the project.
In the past, builders had to rely on paper sketches to correctly put together this massive structure. However, thanks to the invention of computers in the midth century, the progress sped up rapidly. When construction first began on La Sagrada Familia, it was understood to be a simple Roman Catholic church. Later on, it was designated as a cathedral, and then in , Pope Benedict XVI declared it a basilica. For those who might not be familiar with the distinction, a cathedral is the seat of a bishop, so it turned out to be a great honor for the building.
When La Sagrada Familia is completed, it will have 18 towers. However, right now there are only eight towers. Located in the underground level of the building, visitors can come see the tomb for themselves. The intricate symbolism carved into the structure all ties back to one theme: nature. Or it will be, once construction is finished. The Central tower will be over feet tall!
Explore our Barcelona Vacations. Browse All Limited Time Offers. Account Login Create Account. By Michelle Yastremsky. You'll be hearing from us soon. Little can be argued against the uniqueness of this masterpiece. Gaudi, in this piece, laid the foundation for the rethinking of architectural form in a way that gives freedom to express and the audacity to venture. Work by Josep Maria Subirachs. Crucify Him they shouted! Crucify Him! Moving further north of Barcelona to a place called Girona, I am drawn to visit a site that has made quite a reputation for itself.
The stairs hit the lime light when they were featured in the popular TV series Game of Thrones. In season six, Jamie Lannister, a frontal figure and character in the medieval themed series, is seen charging up the elegant stairs on horseback in a scene where he tries to stop a so-called walk of atonement of Queen Margaery—another key character.
They went on to break the world record for the most consecutive stairs climbed while balancing a person on the head. It took the duo less than a minute to make it to the top of the flights of 90 steps. The 17 th -century step stairway has become a popular site for TV and showbiz features.
The Girona church is a Roman Catholic cathedral that started circa and has gone through several stylistic changes over the years from Romanesque to Gothic and later Baroque. One will quickly notice something about the breadth of the nave—it does appear truly wider than most I have seen.
The apse is blocked off by a wall, hence one is required to pass through the ambulatory to catch a glimpse of the altarpiece. The interior of the Girona Cathedral is largely bare, carrying on the character of its Romanesque past. The vaults and walls are bare, but the cathedral treasury is anything but bare. It is loaded with fine examples of altarpieces, tapestry, and gold-covered pieces.
The church bell tower, known as the Charlemagne, is the only surviving of two towers. The tower is prominent and gives character to the otherwise rigid structure. The cloister features a series of double columns with deeply ornamented capitals.
These columns support a thick wall that runs through the length of the cathedral on the northern side. The courtyard is seen here through two columns. The Onyar River in the foreground. The town of Girona is peaceful and unassuming. The people are mostly not inquisitive, going past you without a second look or care.
The Onyar River is a major feature and it forms an important part of the city's character. The people of Girona, like those in Barcelona, appear to be collectively united on one purpose—a free Catalonia. I saw several flags of the yellow and red stripes hanging from residential apartment balustrades, shop windows, and street corners.
It is a type of mellow protest that is a little unsettling. All the political tension aside, Girona is generally a good place to reflect. I, however, must go south now to the central Spanish cities to see and learn more. My stay here was short but rich. Gaudi: Nature of Architecture. Accessed November 10, Thank you for your brilliant comment and well founded critique.
Sadly I did not go to the Sagrada with a sketch pad and so missed out on the joy of looking and recreating the lines of the beautiful monster. Not to make any excuses, I did get a good feel of the building.
At every building I visit, I sit and stare long and hard. In fact, in the case of Sagrada, I dreamt about the building more than once after my visit there. Sometimes the crowd and distraction makes it a tad difficult to sit still and sketch. I have tried sketching a thing or two during this fellowship year and I have both fine and not so fine products from those experiments. On your comment about Gaudi and modernism, I will have to agree with you for the most part though and very humbly this is subject to further discussion as in some ways, the Sagrada on account of its long years of construction, is now as much that of the several artists and project architects as it is Gaudi's work.
This certainly corrupts and complicates the original identity theory behind the building. You are indeed a very fine writer and your photos are excellent. The captions also tell a nice story of the urban context. As I have never visited Barcelona I found this enlightening. I have two gentle critical comments, from an older historian and preservation architect:. First, did you bring along a sketchbook in order to document the building in drawings?
If you did, bravo. You will have stronger memories if your experience was "embodied" as brain scientists describe drawing.
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