La Sagrada Familia

The Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Family), located in the Eixample neighborhood, is a must see while visiting Barcelona. This giant church, with it’s colorful broken tile mosaics, and unique sculptural design, is by far Gaudi’s most recognized work. However, the architect is not to be credited for the cathedral’s origins nor its beginning stages of construction. The Sagrada Familia was a result of Josep Maria Bocabella’s, the founder of the Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph, desire to promote the Catholic Church in a time of great instability both socially and religiously in Spain. He would do this by building a beautiful temple in Barcelona, dedicated to the Holy Family.

In 1876, after Bocabella was unsuccessful in acquiring the centrally located plot on which he had hoped to build his temple, he settled on a less expensive piece of land outside the center of the city. The following year, architect, Francisco de Paula del Villar began work on drawing the plans for la Sagrada free of charge, and construction began in 1882. However, in 1883, Villar resigned from the project after disagreements with the temple committee’s spokesman, Juan Martorell Montells, over building materials. The project was then handed over to Montells, who declined because of the situation, but offered his young apprentice, Antonio Gaudi.

Gaudi officially took over construction of la Sagrada Familia in March of 1883, at the age of 31. The architect immediately began to modify Bocabella’s original plan for the temple, which had been of traditional neo-gothic style. He was forced to base his design around the original plans for the church, including what had already been constructed. However, with limitless imagination and innovative solutions, this proved to be a minor obstacle for the architect.
Gaudi envisioned a twentieth century cathedral, which would serve as a visual guide to the Catholic faith. The crypt of the temple would form a Latin cross that was surrounded by seven chapels dedicated to the seven pains and the seven sins of St. Joseph. In each chapel would be a representation of the Holy Family. He planned facades representing the birth, death, and the resurrection, above which would rise 18 towers representing the 12 apostles, four evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and the largest representing Jesus himself.

Gaudi worked on this massive creation for nearly 42 years, up until he was struck by a trolley and killed in 1926. The architect left no written plan on which to continue the project. However, he had constructed a model of his vision for the cathedral, complete with notes on its symbolism, as well as a few drawings. Work continued on la Sagrada until, in 1936, a fire in Gaudi’s study destroyed what was left of his notes and designs. The project was began again 1952 through the use of drawings, but drew much debate. Slowly but surely, construction is still underway today, with the aid of volunteer builders. The constructed areas are open to visitors and tour groups at an inexpensive price.