La Sagrada Familia is a huge, wildly ornate Roman Catholic church designed by the Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudi, who was a driving force in the Art Nouveau movement. Construction on the temple began in 1882 and continues today.. and when you actually visit it, you can understand why it’s been 125 years in the making. You come up out of the Metro station, turn around, and almost fall over when you see it. It’s a truly stunning experience..
I’ve actually seen Sagrada Familia before, when I was in Barcelona for the first time in 2005. But our visit was rushed and I didn’t get to really spend enough time exploring.. Didn’t get to go to the top either, not to mention a completely new section of the temple has been built since then.
Exterior
The Passion facade..
The Nativity facade..
So much detail. You could stand and stare for a long, long time..
Interior
A “work in progress”, they fill this drawing in as they go. Scheduled completion date is 2026..
For 2 Euros you can ride an elevator about 65 meters up to a high point of the towers. This sign, just outside of the elevators, made me laugh a bit. Read the print after “Elderly persons”..
Barcelona from up high
Walking back down..
The spiral staircase from the top. When you look through the spiral you can see all the way to the ground floor. 426 steps down.. (I didn’t count, I read that somewhere..)
Apparently, when asked about the extremely long construction period, Gaudi replied “My client is not in a hurry”.
I like that.
2 Comments
Nice, dude, that is what its all about!!
dear jay,
i look forward to telling you how hilarious and insightful your blogs are in person.
love,
dena