SAGRADA FAMILIA

The expiatori temple of the Sagrada Familia is a spectacular catholic church situated in Barcelona, Spain. It was design by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. He designed a lot of famous buildings in our city such as El Parc Güell, La Casa Batlló.. The people say that Sagrada Familia is the best building of Gaudi, and a very important construction of the Catalan modernism.

The Sagrada Familia was started in 1882, and now this church is being built until 2030, more or less. When Gaudí died, the workmen had only built one tower. Now, the project only conserve maps and a plaster model but the last one was damaged during the civil war. The Sagrada Familia is being built from donations.

When the construction started, it had a gothic style, but in 1883 the style changed. When the temple is finished, the Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers. The central tower is devoted to Jesus Christ and it is 170 m tall. It has 4 towers devoted to Evangelists and a second dome devoted to the Virgin. Into the Sagrada Familia there are columns too.

The Church was three façades: the Nativity façade in the East, the Passion façade in the West, and the Glory façade in the South. The Nativity façade was built before 1935. This façade is dedicated to the birth of Jesus. The Passion façade is especially for the suffering of Jesus during his crucifixion. These designs are the work of Josep Maria Subirachs. The Glory Façade began its construction in 2002, this was the largest and most monumental of the three and will represent the Glory of Jesus. The Sagrada Familia also includes elements like the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues.

As everybody knows, the Pope Benedicto XVI came to Barcelona one month ago. He came here to do a mass in the Sagrada Familia and then, this temple was officially declared a basilica. In Barcelona there are a lot of catholic people that were delighted to see him, but other people displayed banners against the Pope’s visit.

INTERIOR:

Inside the Sagrada Familia, as in the outside, all things are dedicated to religious concepts. As you can see, the majority of columns have got a tree shape. Gaudí wanted that the inside of this church looked like a forest. The temple has a latin cross plant. The lateral naves have a place dedicated to the choir. The church has 36 columns of 20 m, more or less, and it has a lot of windows with different colours. The light is the protagonist.

Ainoa, Marc and Sara.