Part 1: Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia

I had never been to Barcelona before landing there on my May trip. My few days in Barcelona turned in to a crash course on Gaudi and I loved every minute of it. I wanted to see the Sagrada Familia, having heard so many others speak of it. To that, my daughter added Park Güell and Casa Batlló and I knew absolutely nothing at all about them before I visited. Clearly I did not do a lot of research in advance and this may not be a bad thing because it meant I had no expectations at all. And verily, I was amazed.

I knew the Sagrada Familia had been under construction for quite some time but I thought I had read that it had finally been completed. It hasn’t been completed yet and that shouldn’t surprise us. Many of the major churches and cathedrals from times past took a century or more to build and even then had more additions in subsequent centuries. The Sagrada Familia is technically designated a basilica by papal decree, not a cathedral, and construction has been ongoing since it was started in 1882.

I checked and it seems that it is scheduled for completion in 2026 but I think that might just be the towers and, with six still to go, I wouldn’t bank on that date. The planned main entrance and additional decoration and sculptures will see work continuing well into the 2030s. The scaffolding, cranes and protective shields will likely remain in place for a while longer yet.

No matter. What has been completed is astounding and takes quite a bit to visually absorb. The sheer scale is impressive as is the detail and complexity. I am sure that any readers who have seen it will agree that it is quite simply an extraordinary building.

The stained glass is certainly impressive and varies from traditional to contemporary and the colour palette changes for different walls.  But it was the interplay of architecture and afternoon light that simply took my breath away. Much of the Sagrada is impressive, interesting, curious, even odd at times but the light – the light was an emotional experience for me.

Antoni Gaudi was an architect but his skills and creativity went well beyond the designing of buildings. While hailed as the leading practitioner of the style now termed ‘Catalan Modernism’, I think his work is so individual, varied and unique that it probably warrants its own category as simply ‘Gaudi’. The Sagrada is described as a meeting between gothic style and Art Nouveau. I would add Arts and Crafts into the mix, too.

I found the contrast in styles between the entrance that was completed first in a more traditional style and the cubist approach to the more recent entrance on the other side very odd. From what I read on line, considerable effort is being made to keep to Gaudi’s vision so he must have left some records to hint at the blocky, Cubist style of ornamentation and religious imagery.

And then there is the very odd whimsy of the coloured fruit on top of the gables.

The Sagrada Familia remains the magnus opus of Gaudi but was by no means his only work. More on the grandeur, the detail, the mastery of light, the whimsy and, dare I say it, the occasional descent into kitsch in the next part on  Park Güell.