THIS scribe had the opportunity to visit the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, which is generally known as Sagrada Família, a church under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. Designed by the famous Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudi, it is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Sagrada Família a minor basilica after consecrating it on 7 November 2010.
The history of its construction is very interesting as well as intriguing. The idea of the construction of Sagrada Família was inspired by a devout bookseller, José Maria Bocabella, founder of Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph). In 1872, he visited the Vatican and was so inspired that he launched the project. The original design, prepared by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar was for a Gothic revival church of a standard form. The apse crypt of the church, funded by donations, was begun 19 March 1882, on the festival of St. Joseph and was completed before Villar’s resignation on 18 March 1883, when Antoni Gaudí assumed responsibility for its design.
Gaudi transformed the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. The internationally renowned and much sought after Gaudí was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadis which used waste ceramic pieces. Gaudí’s work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects.
Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Gaudí’s Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname “God’s Architect” leading to his masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família. Gaudí dedicated the last years of his life entirely to the “Cathedral of the Poor”, as it was commonly known, because he took alms in order to continue. In 1926, Gaudi was hit by a tram, but lay bleeding on the roadside, since he was mistaken for a beggar because of his simple appearance. He was moved to a charity hospital, where he died on 10th June. Since he had devoted the final decade of his life to the project, he is buried in the church’s crypt.
At the time of Gaudi’s death, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Since the construction relied solely on private donations, the Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, militant political anarchists set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí’s original plans.
In 1939, Francesc de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to continue reconstruction based on published plans and photographs. Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. Advancements in technologies such as computer-aided design and computerised numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress and construction passed the midpoint in 2010. However, some of the project’s greatest challenges remain, including the construction of ten more spires, each symbolising an important Biblical figure. It was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death, but this has now been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some aspects of it may only be finished by 2040.
The remarkable aspect of the Sagrada Familia is that despite being still incomplete, it attracts millions of visitors every year. The main reason perhaps is the rich imagination of Gaudi, who was under the influence of neo-Gothic and Oriental techniques but became part of the Modernist movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work, however transcended mainstream Modernism, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.
On the subject of the extremely long construction period, Gaudí is said to have remarked: “My client (God) is not in a hurry.” Antoni Gaudi remained single and devoted his life to art and social work. Being of humble Catalan origin himself, Gaudi was proud to promote his native language as well as the influence of nature and religion. His masterpieces are found not only in Barcelona but all over Europe. Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cêsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols. When Gaudí died in 1926, the basilica was between 15 and 25 percent complete. After Gaudí’s death, work continued under the direction of his main disciple Domènec Sugrañes i Gras.
Fame for Gaudi’s work came much after his death but has gained widespread international appreciation, such as in Japan where notable studies have been published. International recognition of Gaudi’s contributions to the field of architecture and design culminated in the 1984 listing of Gaudi’s key works as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gaudi’s style has subsequently influenced numerous contemporary architects. Gaudi was the subject of the 1984 documentary Antonio Gaudi. Owing to his profound religious and ascetic lifestyle, Gaudi has been recommended for sainthood as a “Servant of God.”
International composers have written musical pieces inspired by Gaudi’s work, while in 2008 the Gaudi Awards were launched in his honour, organized by the Catalan Film Academy to award the best Catalan films of the year. An Iberia Airbus A340-642, EC-INO, EC-INO is named after Gaudi. Each year, since 2013, on June 10, the day when Gaudi died, the World Art Nouveau Day is celebrated. Despite other accolades showered upon him, the Sagrada Familia remains the magnum opus of Gaudi.
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
Email: sultanm.hali@gmail.com
views expressed are writer’s own.
