Monday October 16 - Barcelona and La Sagrada Familia

 Monday October 16 - Barcelona and La Sagrada Familia

We arrived at Barcelona in the morning and meandered about until our rental apartment became available just after lunch. Weather was overcast and threatening rain. Our apartment is on the top floor of an apartment building located on Calle de A'rago with a private deck and fabulous view of one of Barcelona's iconic structures the Basilica de Famiglia Sagrada (Church of the Sacred Family) a mere 1.2km away.

The apartment's location is within easy walking distance of all of the major sights and monuments and a huge selection of restaurants and cafes serving every imaginable cuisine. For our 1st dinner in Barcelon Kevin and Tina selected a tiny Columbian restaurant one block away, where they introduced me to Sancocho, a stew of pork, chicken and vegetables.

This morning we set out for our guided tour of the Sagrada Famiglia. Along the way passed the Catalonian Arc de Triomf built in 1888 as the main entrance to the Barcelona World Fair.

Behind the arch lies the wide central promenade of the Passeig de Lluís Companys, leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair.

A monument to the famous Spanish explored Christopher Columbus.

We arrived at the Famiglia Sagrada in time for our guided 1.5 hour tour. The Basilica's history is as interesting as it is beautiful. On 19 March 1882, construction of the Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned over a design dispute Gaudí took over as chief architect at the age of thirty, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Construction has continued ever since with several interruptions during WW2, the Catalonia civil war and Covid.
Current estimates of completion range from 2026 to 2035.

Gaudí's original design calls for a total of eighteen spires, representing in ascending order of height the Twelve Apostles, the Virgin Mary, the four Evangelists and, tallest of all, Jesus Christ. Thirteen spires have been built as of 2023, corresponding to four apostles at the Nativity façade and four apostles at the Passion façade, two of the evangelists Luke, Mark, John and Matthew and the Virgin Mary.

The Basilica features three distinct facades affixed to the several catenary arches that were a trademark innovation of Gaudi's architectural works. The incredibly detailed carvings on the facades tell the story of Christianity from the birth of the Christ child up to and including the Ascencion. The East-facing facade featured iconography of Mary, Joseph and Jesus and a donkey, the three wise men, and four of the apostles as well as figurines modeled in plaster of a Roman soldier executing a male infant. The West-facing facade depicts the Crucifixion, and the North-facing facade depicts the Ressurection and Ascencion.

Below the figurines is a codex which produces the number 33 when adding the numbers in any column, row or diagonal, representing the age of Jesus at his death.

The West-facing facade depicts aspects of The Passion in more modernist abstract forms.

Once inside the Basilica the miracle of Gaudi's imagination is evidenced by towering pillars modeled after Sequoia trees from which Gaudi took his inspiration. Each of the pillars is topped by three or four legs of a catenary arch supporting the ceiling of the Basilica.

 

Gaudi was the first to employ the catenary arch as an architectural foundation and it can be seen in nearly all of his designs from the Basilica to La Pedrera, a private residence to the Parc Guell, which we will visit tomorrow.