A GLIMPSE OF BARCELONA AND A VISIT TO SAGRADA FAMILIA - (Part 2)
Scarborough-ON-Canada
February 23, 2020
TO the ordinary tourists, Sagrada Familia perhaps is just another beautiful church, but for me it is a magnificent work of art, an awe inspiring edifice whose architecture is a combination of late Spanish Gothic architecture, Catalan modernism and Art Nouveau. It is a basilica where on its early stages was financed by private patrons and later on, on money from ticket sales and private donations are being used.
Sagrada Familia, a basilica wholly devoted to the life of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, is a brainchild of a bookseller Josep Maria Bocabella who, after a visit to Vatican in 1872, returned home inspired by that visit of building a church at Loreto, and to be funded by donations.
The apse crypt of the church, designed by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar and whose plan was the revival of the Gothic Architecture in the time of Art Nouveau, was started on March 19, 1882 and was completed before his resignation on March 18, 1883, in which Antoni Gaudi took over, making many radical changes. When Gaudi died in 1926, the basilica was between 15-25% complete.
After Gaudi’s death, Domenec Sugranez took over. However, civil war interrupted her construction in 1936. Since 1940, other architects like Fransesc Quintana took over.
At present, when art is no longer an important factor and time is always of the essence; when buildings, monuments and other structures are built by pouring concrete into a pre-determined shape using plywood and other materials, Sagrada Familia is quite the opposite, as before the introduction of computer, most of the significant decorative stones were custom and handmade by skilled masons. However, since 1980 up to the present, to speed up the process decorative stones are fabricated much faster by the use of numerically controlled machines.
Here are, which I am quoting from the Internet, some of the major features of Sagrada Familia.
And I quote:
“Spires
Gaudí's original design calls for a total of eighteen spires, representing in ascending order of height the Twelve Apostles , the Virgin Mary , the and the tallest of all, Jesus Christ. Eight spires have been built as of 2010, corresponding to four apostles at the Nativity façade and four apostles at the Passion façade.
The Evangelists' spires will be surmounted by sculptures of their traditional symbols: a winged bull ( Saint Luke ), a winged man ( Saint Matthew ), an eagle ( Saint John ), and a winged lion ( Saint Mark ). The central spire of Jesus Christ is to be surmounted by a giant ; its total height (170 metres (560 ft)) will be one metre less than that of hill in Barcelona as Gaudí believed that his creation should not surpass God's. The lower spires are surmounted by communion hosts with sheaves of wheat and chalices with bunches of grapes, representing the Eucharist .
The completion of the spires will make Sagrada Família the tallest church building in the world
Façades:
The Church will have three grand façades: the Nativity façade to the East, the Passion façade to the West, and the Glory façade to the South.
The Nativity Façade faces the rising sun to the northeast and is dedicated to the birth of Christ.
The Nativity Façade is divided into three porticos each one representing a theological virtue: hope, faith and charity. The Tree of Life rises above the Door of Jesus in the Portico of Charity. There are four Towers that complete this Façade each dedicated to a Saint: Mathias the Apostle; St. Barnabas; Jude, the Apostle; and Simon the Zealot.
The Passion façade when compared to the Nativity Façade was quite the opposite as it is plain and simple using bare stone that were curved in straight lines to look like they are bones of a skeleton as this façade is dedicated to the Passion of Christ
The Glory façade, on which construction began in 2002, will be the largest and most monumental of the three and will represent one's ascension to God. It will also depict various scenes such as Hell, Purgatory, and will include elements such as the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues .
Interiors:
The church plan is that of a Latin cross with five aisles. The central nave vaults reach forty-five metres (150 ft) while the side nave vaults reach thirty metres (100 ft). The transept has three aisles. The columns are on a 7.5 metre (25 ft) grid. However, the columns of the , resting on del Villar's foundation, do not adhere to the grid, requiring a section of columns of the ambulatory to transition to the grid thus creating a horseshoe pattern to the layout of those columns. The crossing rests on the four central columns of porphyry supporting a great hyperboloid surrounded by two rings of twelve hyperboloids (currently under construction). The central vault reaches sixty metres (200 ft). The apse is capped by a hyperboloid vault reaching seventy-five metres (250 ft). Gaudí intended that a visitor standing at the main entrance be able to see the vaults of the nave, crossing, and apse; thus the graduated increase in vault loft.”
The main features I described and quoted from the Internet are only partial description of how these features correlates to the life of the Holy Family. Call it an eye opener if you will, thus, I am leaving it you the reader to complete the determination.
In many other churches, basilicas and cathedrals I had visited, the life and history of the Holy Family, is only depicted on the paintings, sculptures and decorations, unlike the Sagrada Familia where the features of whole edifice, both inside and outside, represents the life of the Holy Family. No wonder why, decades before completion, it was already sanctified into a minor basilica
One estimated completion of this expiatory Basilica, meaning it has been and being built through donations, is 2026 - in time for the centennial of Gaudi’s death. Another estimate is 2028. Once completed I can’t think of any other church financed this way.
APPLYING the lesson about Sagrada Familia to the real world – that a project of this magnitude, or any project, big or small, could be built or accomplished (without government help, or in the case of Sagrada Familia, without the help from Vatican) through private donation, ticket sales and other form of fundraising.
This may sound impossible, but in reality, very possible. Many people, by nature are very generous, and are willing to contribute for a good cause.
What turns them off, as can be witnessed in many projects, whether government of private, was corruption, lack of transparency. In short, as long as kleptomaniacs keep their hands off the cookie jar, these generous and caring people will contribute.
I had been to other cities in Spain namely: Santiago de Compostela, Burgos, and Zaragosa; but in my view, among the many churches, basilicas, and cathedrals I had seen in these cities, Sagrada Familia is the fairest of them all.
*****