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Sagrada Família and Glòries
The easternmost reaches of the Dreta de l’Eixample are dominated by the one
building that is an essential stop on any visit to Barcelona – Antoni Gaudí’s great
church of the
Sagrada Família
. Most visitors make a special journey out by
metro to see the church and then head back into the centre, but it’s worth
diverting the few blocks south to the area known as
Glòries
where you can
visit the city’s sprawling flea market, the national theatre building, music
museum and the sole surviving bullring in Barcelona. This is an area destined
for dramatic redevelopment over the next few years, as part of the city council’s
ongoing attempt to breathe new life into peripheral urban areas.
Sagrada Família
Nothing – really, nothing – prepares you for the impact of the
Temple
Expiatori de la Sagrada Família
(daily: April–Sept 9am–8pm; Oct–March
9am–6pm; €8, €11.50 including guided tour, audio-guide €3.50;
T
932 073
031,
W
www.sagradafamilia.org;
o
Sagrada Família), which occupies an entire
city block between c/de Mallorca and c/de Provença, north of the Diagonal;
the metro drops you right outside.
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 (along with the
cathedral, La Seu) left untouched by the orgy of church-burning which accom-
panied 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 – even the coldest hearts will
find the Sagrada Família inspirational in form and spirit.
Some history
Begun in 1882 by public subscription, the Sagrada Família was originally
intended by its progenitor, the Catalan publisher Josep Bocabella, to be an
expiatory building that would atone for the city’s increasingly revolutionary
ideas. Bocabella appointed the architect Francesc de Paula Villar to the work,
and his plan was for a modest church in an orthodox neo-Gothic style. Two
years later, after arguments between the two men, Gaudí – only 31 years of age
– took charge and changed the direction and scale of the project almost
immediately, seeing in the Sagrada Família an opportunity to reflect his own
deepening spiritual and nationalist feelings. He spent most of the rest of his life
working on the church. Indeed, after he finished the Parc Güell in 1911, Gaudí
vowed never to work again on secular art, but to devote himself solely to the
Sagrada Família (where, eventually, he lived in a workshop on site), and he was
adapting the plans ceaselessly right up to his untimely death. Run over by a
tram on the Gran Via on June 7, 1926, he died in hospital three days later –
initially unrecognized, for he had become a virtual recluse, rarely leaving his
small studio. His death was treated as a Catalan national disaster, and all of
Barcelona turned out for his funeral procession. Following papal dispensation,
he was buried in the Sagrada Família crypt.
Work on the church was slow, even in Gaudí’s day, mainly due to a persistent
lack of funds. It took four years to finish the crypt (1901) and the first full plan
of the building wasn’t published until 1917. The first tower was erected the
following year, but by the time of Gaudí’s death only one facade was complete.
THE EIXAMPLE
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Sagrada Família and Glòries