Many large cathedrals and basilicas start by building a space where services can be held while the building grows around it, but (as in so many other ways) Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia broke the mold. The first public services in Antoni Gaudi’s still-under-construction masterpiece had to wait 128 years.
But I doubt anyone who’s been there since it was dedicated in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI would quibble that it wasn’t worth the wait. It is just such an amazing explosion of forms and colors that it is overwhelming.
I’ve been loudly skeptical of all the various ‘immersive art experiences’ that project moving blown-up images of paintings by artists such as Van Gogh and Monet that are so popular these days, but I think the words ‘immersive experience’ may be the best way to think of the interior at Sagrada Familia.
Is there such a thing as a ‘cacophony of color?’ If there is, this must be what it looks like. Stand and look at any area of the brilliant glass, and turn to see contrasting and complementing colors from other directions. The glass, the work of Catalan artists, painstakingly directs light, and your attention. And the varying shapes it falls on make it even more absorbing.
The unusual shapes of many elements reflect Gaudi’s ‘moderniste’ or Art Nouveau styles, but there are also structural decisions in play. Gaudi was not only a designer; his architectural practice was grounded in engineering. The unusual branching out at the top of the columns not only reflects the idea of trees; it also spreads the load more evenly, and allowed the ceiling to be higher. In successive models during the early building he made repeated changes to achieve that.
The first time I saw the interior was on a preview tour in 2009, when a spurt of the often-interrupted construction was underway, rushing for the planned opening the next year. We walked through immense spaces, and stepped around carefully laid out stacks of stones like the one above and sections of columns, but we got only hints of how it would turn out. I’ve retrieved some of those pictures for next week.
Even now, when most effort is going into completing the exterior, where more towers are being erected, work continues on details inside. And, the inside contains hints of the outside; models of some of the future doors and tower-topping statues like that of St Mark (above) are on display.
There are lots of places to find symbols, both of Catholic belief and Catalan culture. Some are on pillars, some worked into ceiling vaults and some are part of the area around the altar including the shaded crucifix below.
This freeform map of the building’s eventual shape and features is one helpful guide to the building; note the width of the nave relative to the building, made possible by the splayed columns. Another visual aid is a large mirror set on the floor to reflect the ceiling; that’s where the title image came from, looking down to see up!
Gaudi designed two sacristies at corners of the main building; they’ve only been built in the past ten years. Their usual use in a church is to store objects and robes used in religious services, but one here is presently open to the public and showing some of the furniture that Gaudi and associates designed for the project and a few others.
Shown here, a pew designed for the unfinished church Gaudi designed for the Colonia Guell project, a candelabrum for Sagrada Familia, and a monogram from the ceiling of the chapel at Casa Battlo, a home Gaudi designed.
Chair, prie dieu and a movable pulpit made for Sagrada Familia. Below cabinets for storing liturgical objects. Many items such as these were damaged during the Spanish Civil War and have been reconstructed from remaining pieces and original designs.
