While working on last week’s article on the experience of encountering the nearly-finished and glorious interior of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica, I dipped into my shoebox and retrieved some images of my first visit to the interior of Gaudi’s masterpiece.
2009 above, 2022 below
The interior opened for worship and visitors at the end of 2010, with a dedication by Pope Benedict XVI, but for a year or so before that, visitors could sign up for a tour of the unfinished and very busy construction site. We went in August 2009.
Bare shapes and few areas where glass had been installed (above) have given way to completed glass and decoration
And, it was definitely a construction site. Workers of various trades were busy placing stones, laying floors, stringing wires, and moving piles of material around the floor. I remember thinking at the time that it looked like it would take a lot more than another year to get it together.
2009, with spaces for the decorative plaques, and glass not yet installed; 2022 below
Below, the giant spiral staircase in 2009 and today
And yet they did. And incrementally continue to do so, although these days in the main body of the enormous church it’s mostly installing artwork rather than stairways, columns, balconies and glass. Below, some of the few areas that had their glass installed by 2009.
In a way, oddly, the scaffolding was quite impressive in itself; it’s almost a shame these scenes couldn’t have been saved somewhere!
