Sagrada Familia in Barcelona: history, photos, how to get there. Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family

WITH Agrada Familia is not the main cathedral of Barcelona, but it is one of the most famous in the world..
All because of long-term construction that lasted for centuries. And the main Cathedral of the city is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, located in the Gothic Quarter of the city (I have already written about it). But the Sagrada is beautiful, especially inside. This is something...

Construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882. Gaudi came to this construction site in 1883, after the dismissal of the previous architect (probably for missing construction deadlines))))

There is a legend that one of the teachers said about Gaudi: “He is either a genius or crazy”... I think that most likely it’s both)))

After the death of Gaudi, who was hit by a tram (his body rests in the crypt of the Basilica), the construction of the temple was continued by his close friend and ally Domenech Sugranes, then by other architects. The church should be completed only by 2026, and that is doubtful, since the date is nearby and the tower is too small. If everything goes well, the construction of this temple will take about 144 years!

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The reason for the long-term construction is that initially the authorities decided to build it only with money from donations from parishioners and no one wants to change it. We would have built it quickly, this is not the Zenit stadium. The temple and the field do not have a retractable dome and the dome does not open... darkness... 19th century...

In general, for a temple of this size it is stuffy in this place. When they began to build the Sagrada Familia, the area around was a suburban wasteland. Now the city has grown, entire residential areas and houses have sprung up around the church, and the authorities did not hesitate to ban construction... now it is as if it is in the shackles of neighboring houses.

But the Temple is beautiful, really... The spindle-shaped shape of the bell towers, reminiscent of sand castles, is determined by the structure of the spiral staircases inside. Each tower is dedicated to its own apostle, whose statues are placed at points where the shape of the towers changes from square to round.

There is a “magic square” on the temple in which all the numbers add up to 33... the age of Christ... there is also a small square on the gate to the temple, but there are still many other secrets there.

Next to the magic square is a sculpture called "The Kiss of Judas."

At the top of the towers, Gaudi intended to place tubular bells, the ringing of which would be combined with the sound of five organs and the voices of 1,500 singers, located, according to the architect’s idea, on both sides of the longitudinal naves and on the inside of the Glory façade.

Each bell tower bears the motto “Glory to the Most High” (“Hosanna Excelsis”) from top to bottom, above which rise polychrome spiers decorated with a stylized image of the symbols of the episcopal rank - the Ring, Miter, Rod and Cross.

Externally, the Sagrada Familia is very unusual and should be associated with a termite mound... with nature. It will be slightly lower than the highest mountain in Spain, so as not to encroach on the height of God's creation. The temple combines elements of both Gothic and modernism, cubism and other crazy things, even fantasy...

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The ticket costs about 15 euros.

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Everything in the interior is subject to strict geometric laws. Round and elliptical windows and stained glass windows, hyperbolic vaults, helical staircases, numerous stars appearing at the intersections of various ruled surfaces and ellipsoids decorating the columns - this is an incomplete list of the geometric details of the decoration of the Temple. (C) Vicki

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Inside is a separate song... LEPOTA... I like him better inside...

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The columns resemble giant trees... all slightly different in thickness and height.

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It looks like he's parachuting... too creative...

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In the basement there is another hall where services are held.

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Almost all sculptures have square heads...

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The temple has a museum with views of the cathedral in the past and future. Original drawings from early plans for the building, furniture designs, and reconstruction models can be used that provide support for the more complex details of the temple.

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Ceiling decoration elements...

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Now some street sculptures and bas-reliefs.

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I liked the reverse side less. It was made by Antonio Gaudi’s students after his death... I think it’s tossing and turning...

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And there are a lot of square heads...

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There are people and reptiles and some square-headed saints... When the church ministers began to criticize Gaudi for the sculptures of all sorts of “reptiles” located on the facades, he said that for God crocodiles and toads are not bad at all, he created them, so Why are they bad for you? The questions are gone...

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The walls are very richly decorated...

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This is what the temple will look like after the construction is completed)))

According to the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, in 2006 the construction was visited by 2.26 million people, which puts the site on a par in popularity with the Prado Museum and the Alhambra Palace.

The construction, which began and continues exclusively with private donations, is being carried out on a site that does not belong to the Church and is not supervised by the episcopate. As a result, the naming of the Sagrada Familia church as a cathedral, sometimes observed in Russian-language texts and oral practice, is erroneous. It should be remembered that the main diocesan church of Barcelona remains the Cathedral of St. Eulalia (“La Seu”) in the Old Town, and not the Sagrada Familia church.

In 2008, a group of more than 400 cultural figures in Spain called for work on the temple to be stopped. In their opinion, the creation of the great architect became a victim of careless, inept restoration for the sake of the tourism industry.

Professional film about the temple outside and inside.

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We say goodbye to the Sagrada and on the metro...

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How do you like the geometry of the streets of Barcelona? It’s like cutting a pie with a knife))) they say St. Petersburg is a flat city. Barcelona is no less flat)))

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Photo (C) https://pikabu.ru/story/krasivyiy_taymlaps_sagrada_familiya_semki_s_drona_3985179

There was a homeless man standing on the stairs and yelling very loudly at everyone for probably 5 minutes. But the police came and calmed him down)))

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The temple is a must-visit place in Barcelona))) Address: Carrer de Mallorca street 401. Nearby is the Sagrada Familia metro station (these are lines L2 and L5). It takes about 30 minutes to walk to one of the central streets of the city, Avenue de Gracia.

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Do you like Sagrada Famidia?

Part of the pictures (C) Internet, basic information Wiki, sites: turizm.ngs55.ru/barcelona/; barcelonacheckin.com/ru/;

All about the history and architecture of the unique creation of Antonio Gaudi - the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. We recommend visiting it to everyone who is planning to visit Barcelona.

Catalans like to say that the creator of the tourist “facade”, that is, its most striking attractions, is Antoni Gaudi. In modern Barcelona you can see twelve works by the eccentric architect, each of which is unique. The most “familiar” of them are: the painted Park Guell, the House of La Mila and, the monastery of St. Teresa, the house of Calvet.

Our cathedral Sagrada Familia ( "Sagrada Familia" translated from Spanish as "Holy Family") stands apart on this list. This is the pearl of the city’s architectural collection, the most large-scale project that has not yet been completed - it remains a towering unfinished project. But at the same time, it not only does not spoil the appearance of the city, but even gives it charm.

The line at the front doors of Sagrada Familia never ends. Many travelers, assessing the number of people who want to get inside, bypass it. Unless they take a selfie against the background of the facade and a couple of pictures from afar.

Therefore, in this article we will pay as much attention as possible to a tour of the cathedral, its interiors and the observation deck. To convince you that it’s even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside, and it’s still worth spending time on.

Sagrada Familia and history of creation

Construction of the structure began in 1882 and continues to this day. The first architect of the cathedral was Francisco del Villar, but a year later he was replaced by Gaudi, who, oddly enough, was never particularly religious. It still remains a mystery to historians why the construction was entrusted to him. Be that as it may, Antonio Gaudi took on the project with all zeal and immediately made changes to the original plan. For as many as 43 years, the Sagrada Familia cathedral became the meaning of his life, the architect devoted all his time to it - he even lived in it.

Unfortunately, he was not destined to see his dream come true. In 1926, Gaudí was hit by a tram and died in hospital a few days later, leaving the main creation of his life unfinished.

The construction of the Holy Family Cathedral was continued by his associates - they inherited numerous drawings and sketches from the architect. During the Civil War, the records were badly damaged in a fire; some of them were never restored. And yet the main idea of the great creator is preserved in the composition of the Sagrada Falimia.

Ideas and plans of Antonio Gaudi

The scale of Gaudi's project is amazing. According to his plan, the cathedral was to be built in the shape of a cross and consist of three facades: the Nativity, the Passion of Christ and the Resurrection. During the architect's lifetime, only the first of them was built. Each of the facades was supposed to symbolize the most important stages in the life of Jesus Christ:

Christmas- birth and life, the beginning of beginnings;
Passion of Christ- betrayal and crucifixion;
Resurrection- the most grandiose, the resurrection of the dead.

There are many other symbols in the architecture of the Sagrada Familia. So each facade should be crowned with four towers, and a total of twelve - like the twelve apostles.

In the central part, four chapels should also be built, symbolizing the evangelists: Mark, Luke, Matthew and John. In the very center there is space for the construction of the two tallest spiers: the Tower of Jesus Christ and the Bell Tower of the Virgin Mary.

Due to the huge number of windows and niches, the surface of the building looks like thin openwork lace. It seems that it is simply impossible to embody such grace in stone. At the same time, the appearance of the cathedral is massive and majestic, and its “backstory” completes the impression made by the Sagrada Familia on everyone who saw it.

Tour of the halls of the Sagrada Familia

The interior decoration of the cathedral is no less fantastic than the external façade. Here natural motifs in Gaudi’s work are especially evident. The giant columns branching at the top and the vault decorated with unusual sculpting resemble the crowns of trees supporting the sky. Carved stained glass windows resemble exotic flowers, and spiral staircases resemble huge snails.

The acoustics, which the creator has been deliberately working on for several years, presupposes the presence of a large choir. In addition, Gaudi provided space for thirty thousand worshipers in the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. These ideas have not yet been put into practice, but perhaps in a couple of decades, the temple will still be completed, and its beauty will finally take on its perfect form.

Tickets to Sagrada Familia - prices 2019

There are two ways to get on a tour of the cathedral: independently and with a guide. Both are good, but the first is more economical, and the second is more interesting - it will appeal to those who like structured information, With numbers, dates, descriptions of each element and even legends.

Information for those who intend to go to the cathedral on their own:

The price of a basic entrance ticket to the Sagrada Familia is 18 euros (15 euros when ordering on the website http://www.sagradafamilia.org). But then the cost begins to dance depending on the services included in the package:

price of a basic ticket + audio guide - 22 euros (on the website);
price of a basic ticket + visit to the house-museum where Gaudi once lived + audio guide - 24 euros (on the website);
the price of a basic ticket + local guide is 24 euros (on the website). In this case, you cannot do without a confident knowledge of English;
price of a basic ticket + climb to the towers + audio guide - 29 euros (on the website).

Prices are per adult. To estimate the cost of tickets to the Sagrada Familia at the offline ticket office, add 3-5 euros to the website prices.

Cathedral opening hours:

from April to September - from 9-00 to 20-00;
October - from 9-00 to 19-00;
from November to February - from 9-00 to 18-00;
December 25-26 and January 1-6 - from 9-00 to 14-00;
March - from 9-00 to 19-00.

The ticket office closes half an hour before the cathedral closes. On national holidays and important dates for the museum, admission is free for everyone. You can find out more information on the official website.

Sagrada Familia - how to get there

The easiest way to get to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral is by metro - fortunately in Barcelona it is convenient and inexpensive. The nearest station is called “Sagrada Família”, purple line L2 and blue line L5.

There is a bus stop of the same name between the cathedral and the park. You can get there by BCTE sightseeing bus, departing from Plaza Catalunya every half hour.

Excursions in Barcelona and surrounding areas

The most interesting excursions are routes from local residents. They are created by creative people who are ready to show you modern Barcelona, Gaudi’s Barcelona, gastronomic Barcelona and more. In total there are about 100 (!) walks on Tripster.

Let's sum it up

After visiting the Sagrada Familia, you are left with a feeling of an unsolved mystery. It’s as if the curtain has lifted, a little more and everything will become clear and obvious... but no. The most important thing remains beyond the bounds; it is difficult to fully understand Gaudi’s plan (read: see a harmonious picture). Moreover, no one would know what the cathedral would have turned out like had the architect lived to see its completion.

And whether this “completion” will ever take place will be seen closer to 2026. This is the date announced as the end of construction.

Work plan from 2015 to 2026. Project presentation - before and after.

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Sagrada Familia or Sagrada Familia- home . Seeing the Sagrada Familia, the Bishop of Barcelona called the architect “the Dante of our time.” Of course, this is one of the most interesting, unusual and beautiful not only in, but throughout the world.

Visit the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Basilica Sagrada Familia
Address: Mallorca, 401, Barcelona

Sagrada Familia opening hours:

November - February: 9:00 - 18:00
March: 9:00 - 19:00
April - September: 9:00 - 20:00
October: 9:00 - 19:00
December 25 and 26, January 1 and 6: 9:00 - 14:00
Ticket sales stop 15 minutes before closing.

Tickets to Sagrada Familia:

Only Sagrada Familia - 15 €
Sagrada Familia + audio guide (including in Russian) - 22€
Sagrada Familia + tour with guide (not in Russian) - 24€
Sagrada Familia + audio guide around the temple + - 24 €
Sagrada Familia + audio guide + cathedral towers (panoramic view) - 29€
There are long queues at the ticket office, the wait is about an hour. You can buy tickets to the Sagrada Familia online

Getting to Sagrada Familia:

Directions: metro: L2 and L5 Sagrada Família station.
Bus: 19, 33, 34, 50, 51, H10 y V21.
Barcelona Bus Turístic: Sagrada Família stop.

Construction of Sargrada Familia

Construction of the building began in 1882 by architect. F. de Villar, but a year later he was replaced by A. . The temple was built exclusively with private donations, and since they were constantly in short supply, its construction lasted for many years and has not been completed to this day. It was conceived as a symbol of atonement for the sins of all of Barcelona and therefore stood in the center of one of the poorest working-class areas. The architect devoted his entire life to the implementation of the grandiose project, but did not complete it; was so absorbed in work that he moved his workshop here. After the death of the great architect, his ashes were buried in the crypt of the cathedral.

This amazing and surreal creation was to become the Bible in stone, a giant picture of the entire history of Christianity. dreamed of creating a “cathedral of the 20th century,” a synthesis of all architectural knowledge and a system of Christian symbols. In addition, the cathedral was supposed to become the embodiment of Catholicism - and it is no coincidence that for many Protestants it remains an example of the unbridled extravagance and luxury of the Roman Church.

Architecture of the Sagrada Familia

When creating sculptural images, he tried to accurately convey spiritual and physical reality and for this he used not only visual means (although even here he was extremely accurate - he photographed skeletons, removed plaster masks from sleeping chickens and a donkey, and while working on the scene of the beating of infants brought dozens of corpses of stillborn children into his workshop), but also sound (the entire cathedral is designed like a grandiose organ, and inside you can hear the wind passing through the holes in the towers), and color (the temple is unusually multicolored - pay attention to the completion of the towers).

Facades of the Sagrada Familia

The architect planned to create facades symbolizing the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, with 18 towers - each personifying one of the apostles, evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Christ (the latter was supposed to rise 170 m). In plan, the cathedral is a five-nave basilica with an apse and a covered gallery for walking. Gaudi managed to build only the crypt, part of the apse and the eastern façade.

The eastern façade, which is called a “treatise on pure aspiration,” is dedicated to the theme of the Nativity of Jesus Christ and is divided into three portal parts embodying Faith, Hope and Charity. The central part is crowned by a giant Christmas tree, under the “canopy” of which there is a scene of glorification of the Mother of God - it is surrounded by the apostles Barnabas, Simon, Thaddeus and Matthew. The side portals depict scenes of the birth of Jesus, which are interspersed with small and symbolic figures of people, apostles and animals.

In Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, there is a building that has been under construction for 120 years, with minor interruptions. But everything comes to an end someday. Founded in 1882, the grandiose Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (“Sagrada Familia”) is gradually taking on the appearance of a completed creation. The way it was conceived by one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Antonio Gaudi.

History of the construction of the Sagrada Familia

Gaudi received the order for construction, or rather, for its completion (another architect began to build the temple), when he was barely 31 years old. At that time, he had only one building to his name - a cotton bleaching workshop. “According to legend, Senor Bucabelle, chairman of the Society of St. James, which was the main customer of the temple, once dreamed that the Sagrada Familia Cathedral would be built by a blond man with blue eyes. As you understand, there are not so many blue-eyed blonds among the Spaniards, so when Bucabelya saw Gaudi, he immediately understood: this is the same person,” she said art critic Angela Sanchez y Gargallo.In fact, the customers most likely chose Gaudi for reasons of economy - a venerable architect would have cost them much more. However, employers were disappointed, since already in the first years the estimate was exceeded many times over.

Gaudi began work without a finished project. He generally preferred to improvise on the construction site. The architect simply could not work any other way. He treated each of his creations as a living being that should grow freely and naturally. For all the phantasmagoric nature of the forms created by Gaudí, they were never abstract. active, on the contrary, always directly went back to something existing in nature. When asked where he finds samples for himself, the architect answered: “In an ordinary tree, with its branches and leaves. All parts of the tree grow organically and seem beautiful because they were created by one artist - God." Drawing inspiration from living nature, Gaudi created designs that seemed impossible to his colleagues. Only decades after the death of the architect, already in the computer age, it was proven: the engineering solutions that Gaudi came to intuitively fully comply with the laws of mechanics. In the Sagrada Familia he planted » a whole forest of columns with capitals in the form of branches. Intertwined, they cover the arch with an openwork forest web.

Gaudi's contemporaries were sure that this vault would certainly collapse. The unique structures on which the vaults of the Sagrada Familia rest are reinforced concrete columns lined with basalt, sandstone or granite. These designs were invented by Gaudi himself. The columns go underground to a depth of 20 meters and reach a height of 70 meters. Each of them can withstand a magnitude 7 earthquake and wind gusts of up to two hundred kilometers per hour.

Gaudi did not divide the elements of his buildings into functional and decorative, because in nature such a division does not exist. The pillars of the aqueduct he designed in Park Güell look like ancient petrified tree trunks. Regular pipes and exits of ventilation shafts on the roof of an apartment building Casa Mila he gave the appearance of ghostly warriors and stylized trees. Casa Mila, immediately nicknamed by the Barcelonans “La Pedrera”, that is, “The Quarry” » , is remarkable not only for its dissimilarity to anything created before. It was the first house in history with an underground garage. In addition, it was the first to apply the principle that decades later was called “free planning.” » .

Recognition of Antonio Gaudi and his tragic death

They paid attention to Gaudi when he had already begun to build the Sagrada Familia, and not at all in connection with this project. In 1878, he built a summer villa for manufacturer Manuel Vicens. The house plan was extremely simple, but the architect tiled the villa with multi-colored glazed tiles and decorated it with so many extensions and decorative elements that it turned into a fabulous Moorish palace. Gaudí's first projects delighted the wealthy patron of the arts, Count Eusebi Güell. According to his orders, Gaudi built several remarkable buildings and planned a city park. Although orders rained down on him from all sides, since 1914 Gaudi devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Familia temple.

On June 7, 1926, the first tram was officially launched in Barcelona. Only one event overshadowed that festive day - a few hours after the opening of traffic, some beggar old man fell under the wheels of a carriage.He was taken to the hospital, where he died soon after. The body was already about to be sent to a common grave. But one of the hospital employees identified the body. It was Gaudi... The architect was buried in crypt of the Sagrada Familia - the temple, which he considered the main work of his life.

Angela Sánchez y Gargallo wrote: “Gaudi understood that he would hardly have enough time toto complete the construction of the temple. Therefore, in recent years, he retreated from his principle and began to make sketches and drawings for those who would come after him. There was much debate as to whether construction should continue. Those who won were those who believed that leaving the master’s creation unfinished meant betraying his memory.”

Many in Spain considered it blasphemous to interfere with the plan of a genius. “It’s like attaching arms to a statue of the Venus de Milo » , - the architect Jose A was indignant sebillo. Salvador Dali spoke even more categorically: « It would be a betrayal of Gaudi to finish building the cathedral... It would be better to leave it sticking out in the middle of Barcelona like a huge rotting tooth » . One way or another, construction continued.

In 1936, when the civil war broke out in Spain, the construction of the temple was interrupted. The anarchists, who actually held power in the city at that time, destroyed almost all of Gaudi’s models and drawings. Interesting fact: the famous English writer George Orwell, who was then in Barcelona, reacted quite positively to this act of vandalism. The temple, in his opinion, should have been blown up altogether.

Architecture of the Sagrada Familia

According to Gaudi's plans, the temple should have three facades: the Nativity, the Passion of the Lord and the Ascension of Christ. Above each tower there are 12 towers, corresponding to the number of apostles. Another 6 towers should be erected above the central nave: 4 in honor of the evangelists, one dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the highest, one hundred and seventy meters high, to Christ. During Gaudí's lifetime, only the facade of the Nativity and the four towers of the apostles crowning it were completed. The architect paid special attention to the decoration of the towers, striving to make sure that, in his own words, “the angels would be pleased to look at them.” The poet Lorca, seeing the towers of the temple, asked Gaudi: “Are you creating an organ for the Lord?” Gaudi nodded in agreement. His dream was to make the towers resonate in the wind so that the music of Creation could be heard in the temple.

The sculptural groups of the Nativity façade were sculpted by Gaudí in life-size. For the scene of the beating of infants, the architect made plaster casts of stillborn children. To make a cast of an animal, he first put it to sleep using chloroform. On the facade, plants typical of Palestine and Catalonia are accurately reproduced, and a Christmas tree rises between the towers.

The opposite facade of the Passion of the Lord, built in our time according to the design of a modern architect, is not liked by Barcelona residents and is called “Star Wars”. On the site of a residential area on Mallorca Street, the third and final part of the Sagrada Familia will be built - the façade of the Resurrection of Christ. The fact that the Sagrada Familia Cathedral is completed by other architects is more the rule than the exception in European history. Many grandiose Gothic cathedrals took centuries to build. Thus, the construction of the cathedral in Reims took 270 years, in Milan - 550, and in Cologne - 632 years.

As in the Middle Ages, the Sagrada Familia temple is being built using voluntary donations, including the euros that tourists pay to view the monument. Recently, every year only entrance tickets and the sale of souvenirs bring several million euros to the temple fund. At the moment, construction is 70% complete, it is expected that the entire temple will be completed by 2026.

On November 7, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, as part of his visit to Spain, consecrated the Sagrada Familia.

Prices for tickets to the Sagrada Familia for 2016

Without excursion: 15 euros.

With guide: 24 euros (in Spanish, English, French, German).
With audio guide: 22 euros (in Russian, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese languages).
With audio guide and tour of the towers: 29 euros.

Opening hours of the Sagrada Familia

November – February: from 9.00 to 18.00.
March: from 9.00 to 19.00.
April – September: from 9.00 to 20.00.
October: from 9.00 to 19.00.

Official website: http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/

If you are going to Barcelona, be sure to visit these attractions - the priceless legacy of Antoni Gaudi. Contact the Center for Services for Business and Life in Spain “Spain in Russian”, and we will help you organize interesting individual or group excursions to the unforgettable creations of Antoni Gaudi.

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Sagrada Familia - Sagrada Familia

Construction of the temple began in 1882 and is currently ongoing. The architects were three people - first Francisco del Villar, later Antonio Gaudi came, under whose leadership the cathedral became one of the most unusual temples in the history of architecture, and Domenech Sugranes, who continued Gaudi’s work.

If initially the temple was planned to be built in the neo-Gothic style, then under the influence of Gaudi, several styles were mixed in the architecture of the temple, and all this resulted in something unique and amazing. The construction budget of the Sagrada Familia was based on donations from visitors, so the construction of the temple is still ongoing.

The work is planned to be completed only in 2026. There are photographic models of the future temple. The temple is located in the Spanish city of Barcelona, in the Eixample district, although when the cathedral just began to be built, it was 7 km away from the city. You can get to it by metro and bus. Divine services in the temple have been held since November 7, 2010.

The beginning of the construction of the temple

In 1881, a plot of land was purchased where they planned to build the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, several kilometers away from the city of Barcelona. Initially, the temple was built with funds from the community of admirers of St. Joseph and was planned to be a relatively small church. They invited Francisco del Villar as a designer, who agreed to build the Sagrada Familia.

On March 19, 1882, the first work on the temple began. The first project was thought out by del Villar, according to which the temple should be built as a neo-Gothic basilica in the shape of a Latin cross. Local residents hoped that the temple would be built within 10 years, but their expectations were not met.

Relations between Villar and the church council began to deteriorate. The dispute that arose as a result of the choice of material for supporting the crypt of the columns escalated into a real quarrel. As fate would have it, Villar stopped supervising the construction of the church at the end of 1882; Antonio Gaudi was later appointed instead.

Villar was a very experienced and respected designer and taught at the École Supérieure d'Architecture, and Gaudí was his student. In addition, Antonio was a younger and novice architect, so he cost the church council less than others. The Sagrada Familia later turned out to be Gaudi's life's work.

Construction under the direction of Gaudi

On November 3, 1883, work began on the church according to Gaudi's plans. The new architect initially proposed to remove his obligation to follow Villar’s previously developed project.

Reflections on the future architecture of the temple lasted not months, but years. In the process of this work, an individual style was formed, which later became characteristic only of Gaudi. Antonio was nearby every day and worked on the creation of the cathedral and its symbolic design.

The parabolic arch was chosen as the main structure, justifying its use in Colonia Güell. The external design of the cathedral had to correspond to the time in which it began to be built. Those times in Spain were characterized by the importance of family and work. All this was reflected in the cathedral, combined with elements of the fantastic and various scenes from the Gospel.

Antonio understood that the acoustics of a space are no less important than its design. The shape of the bells must be elongated and, in addition, the structure of the church is designed so that the wind penetrates the openings, creating various sound effects inside like a giant organ.

During his first years of work in 1889, the architect completed work on the crypt built by the previous architect. A vault appeared above this building, located higher than in the previous project. In the future, it will be decorated with bright multicolor mosaics.

Working with building facades

1892 – decoration of the Nativity façade. The Sagrada Familia features scenes of the birth of Jesus Christ in the decoration of its façade, recreated in sculpture; they can be seen in many photographs.

This facade is the first on which work began, since Gaudi was afraid to begin the façade of the Passion, since the scenes of the crucifixion, with emphasized frankness and cruelty, could frighten people who came to look at the church.

1910 A church school for children is built on the site of the not yet erected main facade. It has a unique design, without supporting walls to take on the weight of the building; its reliability is ensured by curved partitions in the roof.

1895 - the construction of the apse is completed; its design contains elements of vegetation and insects of the area where the cathedral was built. At the same time, work was underway on a part of the cloister illustrating the portal of the Holy Virgin of the Rosary.

1911 - Gaudi began to think about the design of the façade of the Passion, which could not be completed before the death of the architect. Then he creates drawings of the facade of Glory.

The appearance of the building in Barcelona, according to the creator's idea, was supposed to be a forest thicket of columns, with elements similar to the arched structures of Colonia Güell.

After the death of the genius, work on the construction was continued by Domenech Sugranes, who completed work on the remaining columns of the Nativity façade. In addition, he completed the cypress tree located above the entrance to the façade.

As a result of the Spanish War, construction of the cathedral was suspended. Most of the drawings and sketches remaining from Gaudí's work were burned in a fire.

1952 - construction of the church resumed, decoration of the Nativity façade continued. A staircase was made, and the facade began to be illuminated, there is a photo of the illuminated temple at night, which is a beautiful sight.

Exterior of the temple

The Sagrada Familia, as you can see in the photo, has three facades. The Nativity façade is represented by three portals, symbolizing Faith, Hope and Love. The portals are a collection of sculptural compositions illustrating the affairs of Jesus Christ on earth.

In the Portal of Hope, located to the right of the entrance, there are sculptural scenes: the wedding of Mary and Joseph, the escape to Egypt, the murder of infants.

In the Portal responsible for Faith there are statues dedicated to fragments from the New Testament: the meeting of the Virgin Mary with Elizabeth, Jesus with the Pharisees, Entering the Temple, Jesus while working as a carpenter.

The portal located in the center of the façade is dedicated to the virtue of Love or Mercy. Here are sculptures symbolizing Christmas: the adoration of the Magi and shepherds, angels, the star of the Nativity, and the Virgin and Child.

A huge “ceramic cypress” symbolizing the church grew above the portal. In the photo you can see that the Sagrada Familia looks as if its towers are sculpted from sand, in which there are many holes for acoustic effect.

The passion façade is located on the reverse side of the Nativity façade. There are four towers above it, and it is decorated with sculptures illustrating the Crucifixion of Christ.

The Sagrada Familia will eventually have eighteen bell towers, twelve of them belonging to the facades, each with four columns. The number twelve symbolizes the number of apostles.

Four towers with a height of 120 meters are dedicated to the evangelists: Mark, John, Luke, Matthew with their corresponding symbols of a lion, eagle, calf, angel. The windows are decorated with multi-colored bright stained glass windows with Biblical symbols.

Interior decoration of the temple

The inside of the temple looks, according to some, even better than the outside; in the photo below you can see how interesting the architecture is inside the Sagrada Familia. Since Gaudi understood that during his lifetime he would not have time to complete the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, he thought through many details.

Not wanting the standard straightforwardness in the design inside the temple, Gaudi decided to use various figures from geometry, such as a hyperboloid, ellipsoid, helicoid, conoid. The Sagrada Familia has an interior design that follows geometric patterns.

The windows have a round and elliptical shape, the vaults imitate the shape of a hyperboloid, the columns are twisted in the form of helicoids, and spiral staircases are inside the bell towers. There are many other geometric elements inside the temple. For example, the columns carry the entire load of the building; their section at the bottom is a star, which gradually turns into a circle with height.

Rising higher, the columns branch like trees, collectively creating the feeling of being in a forest. The star is also a frequently recurring element within the temple, sometimes appearing at the intersection of lines of geometric elements within the temple.

The Sagrada Familia is one of the most striking and remarkable architectural monuments. This temple in Barcelona attracts many tourists every year who take fantastic photos and enjoy its splendor.