TOP SIGHT
LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA
If you have time for only one sightseeing outing, this should be it. La Sagrada Família inspires awe by its sheer verticality, and, in the manner of the medieval cathedrals it emulates, it’s still under construction: work began in 1882 and is hoped (although by no means expected) to be finished in 2026, a century after the architect’s death.
A Holy Mission
The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família was Antoni Gaudí’s all-consuming obsession and he saw its completion as his holy mission. He devised a building with a central tower 170m high above the transept (representing Christ) and another 17 of 100m or more. The 12 along the three facades represent the Apostles, while the remaining five represent the Virgin Mary and the four evangelists. With his characteristic dislike for straight lines (there were none in nature, he said), Gaudí gave his towers swelling outlines inspired by the peaks of the holy mountain Montserrat outside Barcelona, and encrusted them with a tangle of sculpture.
At Gaudí’s death, only the crypt, the apse walls, one portal and one tower had been finished. In 1936 anarchists burned and smashed the interior, including plans and models. Opponents of the continuation of the project claim that the computer models based on what little of Gaudí’s plans survived have led to the creation of a monster that has little to do with the original. It is a debate that appears to have little hope of resolution.
DON’T MISS
A The apse, pillars and stained glass
A Nativity Facade
A Passion Facade
A Museu Gaudí
PRACTICALITIES
A 
%93 208 04 14
A Carrer de Mallorca 401
A adult/child €15/free
A 
h9am-8pm Apr-Sep, to 7pm Mar & Oct, to 6pm Nov-Feb
A 
mSagrada Família
The Interior & the Apse
The roof is held up by a forest of extraordinary angled pillars. As the pillars soar towards the ceiling, they sprout a web of supporting branches, creating the effect of a forest canopy. Sunlight pours through carefully placed window as though through the branches of a thick forest. The pillars are of four different types of stone, from the soft Montjuïc stone pillars along the lateral aisles through to granite, dark grey basalt and finally burgundy-tinged Iranian porphyry for the key columns at the intersection of the nave and transept. The stained glass, divided in shades of red, blue, green and ochre, creates a hypnotic, magical atmosphere when the sun hits the windows.
Nativity Facade
The Nativity Facade is the artistic pinnacle of the building, mostly created under Gaudí’s personal supervision. You can climb high up inside some of the four towers by a combination of lifts and narrow spiral staircases – a vertiginous experience. Three sections of the portal represent, from left to right, Hope, Charity and Faith. Among the forest of sculpture on the Charity portal you can see, low down, the manger surrounded by an ox, an ass, the shepherds and kings, and angel musicians. To the right of the facade is the Claustre del Roser, a Gothic-style mini-cloister tacked on to the outside of the church. Once inside, look back to the intricately decorated entrance. On the lower right-hand side you’ll notice the sculpture of a reptilian devil handing a terrorist a bomb. Bombings in Barcelona were frequent in the decades prior to the civil war.
Passion Facade
The southwest Passion Facade, on the theme of Christ’s last days and death, has four towers and a large, sculpture-bedecked portal. The sculptor, Josep Subirachs, worked on its decoration from 1986 to 2006, somewhat controversially. He did not attempt to imitate Gaudí, instead producing angular images of his own. The main series of sculptures are in an S-shaped sequence, starting with the Last Supper at the bottom left and ending with Christ’s burial at the top right.
Glory Facade
The Glory Facade will, like the others, be crowned by four towers – the total of 12 representing the Twelve Apostles. Inside will be the narthex, a kind of foyer made up of 16 ‘lanterns’, a series of hyperboloid forms topped by cones. Further decoration will make the whole building a microcosmic symbol of the Christian church, with Christ represented by a massive 170m central tower above the transept, and the five remaining planned towers symbolising the Virgin Mary and the four evangelists.
