It's not often that tourists queue up by the hundreds of thousands and pay to enter a building site, but visitors to Barcelona are encouraged to watch up close as crews construct what will eventually be the tallest church in the world, La Sagrada Familia.
The 'Holy Family' church is not actually a cathedral, despite its ever-growing presence on the Barcelona skyline (here it can be seen from the nearby hilltop of Montjuic). According to Antoni Gaudi's blueprints, upon completion the church's 560-foot tower will quite purposefully be only a few inches shorter than Montjuic, lest the architect be thought wanting to exceed God's own creations.
This is Barcelona's cathedral as seen from Montjuic. Like Sagrada Familia, it is also shrouded by scaffolding and attended to by cranes, but as part of ongoing restoration works, not as an attempt to outdo the young upstart.
One controversial aspect to Sagrada Familia (among many) is that it will quite literally overshadow the city's cathedral. Gaudi himself however is no longer here to weigh in on these debates as he died in 1926, when his church was at most only 25% complete.
Sagrada Familia practically sits right atop a metro stop by the same name, so it is quite easily accessible despite being on the far fringes of the Eixample district.
On a sunny mid-morning in early November when we visited, the queues quite literally stretched around the block with hundreds of people waiting to buy tickets.
Thankfully the line moved quickly, but it still took about 15 minutes for us to reach the gates, where security guards were scanning bags and asking if we carried any knives. Into a church? Always.
We paid extra for the lift ride up one of the towers, but the next available time slot was not for one and a half hours, which actually turned out to be perfect by the time we had roamed around everything else. These days, a combined ticket costs €18 each, but you'll be surprised by how much there is to see.
The interior is pretty much complete, having been roofed over and receiving its blessing by the Pope in 2010. To me it felt more like the inside of a spaceship than a church, with an oddball assortment of organically-inspired supports that had round lumps at the top inspired by the scars on pollarded trees. Peering around the forest of columns, you half-expected Darth Vader to sweep past.
A few traditional features which you'd expect to see in a church were dotted about here and there, but were quite jarring and intrusive, such as the crucifixes with tea light candles tacked onto the majestic columns.
At first glance the altar looked like the canopy of a fairground carousel, but on second thought I wondered if it had been inspired by a jellyfish instead, given all the other natural motifs like honeycombs, trees and crystals.
Back outside and the 'Nativity' entrance hits you with the fullest extent of Gaudi's intentions for the building, although it has not been colourfully painted as he wished. Columns sat atop giant turtles, palm fronds bent down and lizards frolicked about.
The newborn the Jesus lies in a manger watched by a curious bull and donkey,
while chickens scratch in straw.
The facade of the building itself appears to be melting, but is meant to resemble the interior of a cave or grotto.
On the opposite side of the building, the 'Passion' entrance by contrast is angular and stark, yet its skeletal appearance is also in keeping with Gaudi's original plans. Whereas the Nativity entrance celebrates life and fertility, the Passion entrance impresses upon visitors the pain suffered by Jesus on the cross.
The crowing rooster at the Nativity entrance
reminds us that Jesus was disowned by Peter after being arrested by Roman soldiers, as depicted at the Passion entrance. At least I think that's a Roman soldier. It might be an imperial stormtrooper.
Elsewhere in the building is an exhibit explaining Gaudi's use of natural forms, a cloister featuring delicate roses carved from white stone
and the crypt where you can observe the current architectural team at work.
It's remarkable to think that they remain committed to one man's ideas over 80 years after his death, even more so after realising that Gaudi's on-site workshop was destroyed during the Civil War, including his models and blueprints.
For quite awhile the church was an empty shell, but work has picked up rather quickly since Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics, since when Sagrada Familia has become the city's favourite tourist destination and is visited by about 3 million people every year. Entry tickets and other private donations provide all the funding for the project, which receives no contributions from any government nor the Catholic church.
Gaudi's own estimate was that construction would take centuries (not that he was bothered; as he said, 'my client is not in a hurry.') Technological advances that Gaudi could never have envisioned, like computer modelling which enables precision-cut stones to be crafted by machines instead of carved by hand, means the entire building should be finished by 2026, in time to commemorate the centenary of his death.
In the meantime, the hour had come for our appointed lift ride. This took us up the core of the Passion tower and we were invited to take the stairs back down. During the descent, we passed into an adjacent tower which had open views in all directions. It was a bit 'interesting' for those of us with a fear of heights, especially as there was not much room while being jostled by other tourists and in several places we were stood in the open air many feet above ground.
This did however afford the very best views of the sculptures, mosaics and motifs, like the bunch of grapes that crown one spire and signify the wine in a communion cup,
while a neighbouring spire is topped by the wheat which is used to make communion wafers.
Along the way we spotted many workers, some of whom themselves were, like us, stopping to admire the view.
There's an old bullring down the road
and you'll see Barcelona's newest additions to the skyline, Torre Agbar, which will be almost 100 feet shorter than the Sagrada Familia's tallest spire when complete.
Towards the very bottom as we neared the exit of the tower we had to inch down a tight spiral of steps which had no central support or guardrail, but we managed without incident.
There are only a few other major cities in the world where one architect's vision has had such a profound influence on an entire city. Corbusier's Chandigarh and Niemeyer's Brasilia come to mind, but by comparison Gaudi's creations for Barcelona are exceedingly more playful and colourful. Sagrada Familia may be the most famous of his buildings but it is not yet finished; luckily there are many other fine projects of his to explore nearby. Click back again soon as we pop into La Pedrera and stroll around Parc Guell.
In the meantime, take a look at my
Facebook gallery where I have plenty more photographs from Sagrada Familia. By the way, my Facebook page lives for 'likes'!
IF YOU GO Sagrada Familia opens daily at 9am, with extended hours in the evening from April to September, but closing earlier on certain days in winter. Their
official website has full details. The ticket price is a bit expensive, but you can easily spend two hours or more exploring the building. Via the metro, Sagrada Familia has its own station at the junction of lines L2 and L5.
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