Barcelona Guide
The Eixample
Sagrada Família
Address: Between c/de Mallorca and c/de Provença, north of the Diagonal
Opening time: Daily: April– Sept 9am–8pm; Oct– March 9am–6pm; Guide tours in English May– Oct 11am, 1pm, 3pm & 5pm
Price: €8, €11.50 including guided tour, audio-guide €3.50
Telephone: 932 073 031
Website: www.sagradafamilia.org
Nothing – really, nothing – prepares you for the impact of the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. In many ways the overpowering church of the "Sacred Family" has become a kind of symbol for the city, and was one of the few churches left untouched by the orgy of church-burning which accompanied both the 1909 "Tragic Week" rioting and the 1936 revolution. More than any building in the Barri Gòtic, it speaks volumes about the Catalan urge to glorify uniqueness and endeavour. It is the most fantastic of the modern architectural creations in which Barcelona excels.
The size alone is startling – Antoni Gaudí's original plan was to build a church capable of seating over 10,000 people. In particular, twelve extraordinary spires rise to over 100m; for Gaudí they symbolized the twelve apostles. A precise symbolism also pervades the facades, each of which is divided into three porches devoted to Faith, Hope and Charity, and each uniquely sculpted. The eastern Nativity facade, the first to be completed, is alive with fecund detail, its very columns resting on the backs of giant tortoises. Contrast this with the Cubist austerity of Subirachs' work on the western Passion facade, where the brutal story of the Crucifixion is played out across the harsh mountain stone. Gaudí meant the so-far unfinished south facade, the Gloria, to be the culmination of the Temple.
The place is a giant building site, with scaffolding, pallets, dressed stone, cranes, tarpaulins and fencing scattered about, and contractors hard at work. However, a recognizable church interior is starting to take shape. In 2001 the vaults of the central nave were finished, and the whole church is due to be roofed, with a 170-metre-high central dome and tower to follow. Extraordinary columns branch towards the spreading stone leaves of the roof, a favourite Gaudí motif inspired by the city's plane trees – he envisaged the temple interior as a forest from very early days.
Elevators run up the towers of the Passion and Nativity facades, from where you'll be rewarded by partial views of the city through an extraordinary jumble of latticed stonework, ceramic decoration, carved buttresses and sculpture.