Yesterday we finally went to the thing any tourist must go to when they are here: the Sagrada Familia church. Actually, it’s a little weird to call it a church. It’s a massive building. It has been designated an official basilica. That sounds like a more fitting word. The narrator of the audio tour guide kept calling it a temple. That was weird too though, because Christians don’t use that word to describe our places of worship. God doesn’t live in churches. His temple is the human heart.
Anyway, the Sagrada Familia church is colossal. Pictures in no way capture how really really ginormous it is. It’s truly amazing. Nevertheless, I took a lot of pictures. Here we go…
The east side of the church is dedicated to Jesus’ nativity. It’s organic and ornate. Here are some pictures:
The church was designed by Antoni Gaudi, the architect/artist that did the constructions we saw on Thursday. “Sagrada Familia” means “Holy Family”. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph feature in its design elements.
The church has been under construction for more than a hundred years, and still isn’t finished. There were people actively working on it while we were there. Can you see the man in the red shirt in the middle of this picture?
The sanctuary was enormous and beautiful. Gaudi was really into nature, and he wanted the sanctuary to look like a forest. It really does. It was stunning.
The stained glass windows were gorgeous. The east side windows (dedicated to the Nativity) were cool greens and blues.
The west side windows (dedicated to the Passion) were warm reds and yellows.
There were also many references to the twelve apostles and the four Gospel writers. Here’s a sculpture symbolizing Matthew that will eventually be on a peak on top of the building:
Other artists contributed after Gaudi’s death. Here’s the Lord’s Prayer as it will appear on some outer doors in the future. It’s in Catalan, the local language.
Another artist executed the west side of the sanctuary, the Passion side. This side was very moving. So many details – even in the columns. The big ones in the lower part of the picture below look like tensed muscles. The smaller ones in lighter stone at the top look like ribs.
The sculptures were full of symbolism. Here is Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss. Notice the serpent by Judas’ feet. And the magic square by Jesus adds up to 33 no matter which direction you go – 33, the age Jesus was when he died.
And the crucifix at the apex of the doorway… so powerful.
We bought tickets to go up in one of the towers. It’s the one farthest to the right in the picture below. An elevator took us up, and we took a narrow, winding stairway down.
It was hard to capture the narrowness of the stairway in pictures. I felt claustrophobia and a fear of heights at the same time. It was… interesting…
There were some amazing views though. I was able to hold it together well enough to take some pictures.
The final big of stair walking-downing was a spiral stair that went for a long, long time. I got a little dizzy.
I was thinking after my experiences on Thursday that going to touristy places isn’t really my favorite thing to do when I travel. The crowds are crazy and I get kind of impatient, and the things I’m looking at seem cheapened and silly.
That was not my experience yesterday. There were still crowds, and there were still people doing stupid things that could have made me crazy, but I was truly moved by this amazing building and all its beauty and symbolism. I definitely recommend a visit here if you’re ever in Barcelona.
Having said that, I will now switch gears to say that I’m flying back to California today. I leave in the afternoon, which is morning for people in the US.
Here’s my flight info, for those of you playing along at home:
Iberia Airlines #2623
Leave Barcelona 2pm
Arrive Los Angeles 6:10pm
It’s a 13 hour flight. Yikes.
I have a fear of heights and claustrophobia, also, so thanks for showing me these places. It was much easier for me to experience these places while sitting in my chair. 🙂
Let us know what a 13 hour flight is like.
Thank you for documenting your time in Barcelona! The photos are amazing and the narrative was so informative. I hope to go to see the Sagrada Familia when it is complete. Is there a prediction when that will be?
I just can’t get over the ability to bring a dream like that to reality. “I want to build a sanctuary that looks like a forest, and surround it all with the story of Jesus’ life. Oh, and it should be made of stone. Go.” I looked up the Sangrada Familia online yesterday when you mentioned it, and it is just……. incredible. From a drone perspective, it looks like…. I can’t even describe it – a sentient mountain?
Thank you for bringing us along, and please know that we are all praying you home!
The Alan Parsons Project has a song about the Sagrada de Familia cathedral, on an album titled “Gaudi”. It’s so late 80s but entertaining enough to inspire the imagination. Thanks for putting beautiful pictures into my brain to go along with the music and lyrics!
And the flight I was on from St. Louis to Hong Kong (for work) was 13 hours. Somewhere over Russia I started to sing in side my head:
This is the flight that never ends.
It goes on and on, my friends.
Some people walked onto it, not knowing what it was.
And, they’ll just keep riding it forever, just because
This is the flight that never ends…
As I write this you’re over Canada, just about ready to cross over into Michigan. Prayers for an uneventful rest of the trip!
Whoops. There is no ‘de’ in the cathedral’s name. My bad.
Your copious snaps clearly saw far more details last week than I ever recall having seen decades ago when I was there…and I doubt it’s a case of “yea, well, all that stuff must have gone up since you were there”. Absolutely awe-inspiring.
Random reflections include:
* So glad the extra from Star Trek found another fulfilling job. (Think about it…it’ll hit you)
* Wonder when the magic square was put in there – can’t imagine Gaudi was “into” that back in his day…pretty cool nonetheless
* Pretty sure those stairways – narrow or spiral – would have triggered a panic attack in this old gal. Kudos to you for handling that so well.
* …and thanks for adding the expected flaming airplane before your return flight. This would have been an incomplete post without it. 😉
Blessings on your return to the classroom for the home stretch of the school year!