My pilgrimage to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

When in Spain, get ye to Barcelona. And while in Barcelona, a visit to the massive Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is a pilgrimage worthy of Geoffrey Chaucer or John Bunyan.

There are many smaller corners to investigate in this remarkable building. I found myself in wonder at the place, after 3 hours in a corner looking out onto the length of the nave. Here’s a view I saved from those moments.

“A smaller place with which we resonate is more important than a place of great pilgrimage.”

Czech author Vaclav Cilek in “Artisan”

And I stayed there for another 2 hours soaking in the collision of changing colors, wavy lines, & fantastic shapes somehow integrated into a massive skeletal form. I think each of us could find wonder here.

TRAVEL TIP: It was great advice from the online Tiqets seller to plan our visit after 1 PM for the best afternoon light. The site for the Segrada Familia tickets can be found here.

The Basílica de la Sagrada Família is a huge, bizarre, unfinished Catholic basilica in central Barcelona, Spain that began in 1882.

The driving force to build came from an evangelical Catholic bookseller, Josep María Bocabella. He was troubled by the growing secularism and liberalism as a result of the 19th century industrialization in Barcelona.

He wanted to counter these “secular sins” by building a church dedicated to the Holy Family. Such a church would be a beacon of traditional Catholic family life, the prime example of which was the Holy Family.

Together with other devotees, Bocabella created the Associació de Devots de Sant Josep (the Josephines) which bought the land and started the funding process for construction.

The city and 4 generations have grown up with his creation.

It somehow survived 2 World Wars, the Spanish Civil War, & countless uprisings by the native Catalan people – and remains under construction after 136 years, even with the use of modern technologies to accelerate the process.

“It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art.”

Art critic Rainier Zerbst

Among architectural and historical experts, the Sagrada is well known for its audacious Art Nouveau vision and complex construction elements, as you can see in these pictures.

Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site that we can visit ( but for Covid-19 ), even though construction continues.

On November 7, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated this Roman Catholic church and proclaimed it a minor basilica. It seems as big as the U.S. National Cathedral, but the design of the two naves is definitely very different.

“Any man may be called a pilgrim, who leaveth the place of his birth.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874

The sheer scale of it is impressive. In the picture, the pedestrians look like ants around a tree trunk.

When I took this cloudy picture there were still 10 more spires to finish – hence the 3 cranes.

Continuous construction from 1882 – 2026

In March of 1882, the construction of the Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms.

Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and remains there even now: he’s buried in the crypt. At the time of his death at the hands of a streetcar driver in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Relying solely on private donations for 35 years, the Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly – and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War from 1936-39. which later expanded into World War II in 1939-45.

In July of 1936, during the start of their Civil War, Catalan anarchists, hostile to religion and to the historic power wielded by the Catholic Church, set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop. While there, they partially destroyed Gaudí’s original sketches, formal plans, drawings, and plaster models in an attempt to prevent the Sagrada from being completed. – which added to the delays while the architects reworked the remaining pieces, including fragments of the complex master model.

The current design is based on reconstructed versions of those plans that were burned – as well as on modern materials and adaptations.

“The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages.”

Architecture critic Paul Goldberger

The long slog after the war

Construction resumed in the 1950s after a long recovery from the Civil War and World War II. Advancements in technology including computer aided design and computerized numerical control (CNC) have since helped speed up progress, and, mercifully, construction passed the midpoint in 2010.

Since 1940, the architects Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig Boada, Lluís Bonet i Gari and Francesc Cardoner have carried on the work. Lighting was designed by Carles Buïgas. The current director, Jordi Bonet i Armengol, has been introducing computers into the design and construction process since the 1980s.

Mark Burry of New Zealand serves as Executive Architect and Researcher.  Sculptures by J. Busquets, Etsuro Sotoo and the controversial Josep Maria Subirachs decorate the fantastic facades.

Barcelona-born Jordi Fauli took over as chief architect in 2012.

A grand plan

While never intended to be a full cathedral, which acts as the seat of a bishop’s diocese, the Sagrada Família was planned from the outset to be a cathedral-sized building.

Its foundation plan has obvious links to earlier Spanish cathedrals such as those in León and Seville. Like many other European Gothic cathedrals, the Sagrada Família is short in comparison to its width, and has a great complexity of parts, which include double aisles, an ambulatory with a chevet of seven apsidal chapels, a multitude of steeples and three portals, each widely different in structure as well as ornament.

Where it is common for cathedrals in Spain to be surrounded by numerous chapels and ecclesiastical buildings, the plan of this church has an unusual feature: a covered passage or cloister which forms a rectangle enclosing the church and passing through the narthex of each of its three portals.

“My client is not in a hurry . . . “

Antony Gaudi

With this peculiarity aside, the plan, influenced by Villar’s crypt, barely hints at the complexity of Gaudí’s design or its deviations from traditional church architecture. There are no exact right angles to be seen inside or outside the church, and few straight lines in the design.

Everything – yes, everything is wavy.

Spires

As of our visit, eight of the eighteen towers have been completed. 

Gaudí’s original design called for a total of eighteen ornate spires atop towers, representing in ascending order of height the Twelve Apostles, the Virgin Mary, the four Evangelists and, tallest of all, Jesus Christ.

You can climb to the top of two of the church’s towers below those spires, on either side of the temple and get impressive views over two parts of the city and examine the building’s outside architecture up close.

Three symbolic facades

Aware of the certainty that he wasn’t going to be able to finish these elements, Gaudí left several sketches with his working notes so that his successors could finish the work correctly.

Nativity Facade

Facing East this represents Christ’s birth. It is beautifully decorated and full of detail.

The Nativity Facade was built before the work was interrupted in 1935 and bears the most direct Gaudí influence.

Passion Facade

This part is a little more bare than the rest of the facades, faces West and represents the suffering of Jesus during his Crucifixion. The Passion facade was built according to the design that Gaudi created in 1917.

Construction began in 1954, and the steeples, built over the elliptical plan, were finished in 1976. It is especially striking for its spare, gaunt, tormented characters, including emaciated figures of Christ being scourged at the pillar; and Christ on the Cross.

These controversial designs are the work of noted sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs.

Glory Facade

This is the main South facing facade which began in 2002. It is intended to be larger and more spectacular since it will symbolize Jesus’ death and resurrection and his present and future glory.

It will also include other Christian themes like: Hell, Purgatory, Seven deadly sins  and Seven heavenly virtues.

The Nave

Central nave vaulting  was completed in 2000 and the main tasks since then have been the construction of the transept vaults and apse. This is an image of the transept crossing seen from the floor.

As of 2006, work concentrated on the crossing and supporting structure for the main steeple of Jesus Christ as well as the southern enclosure of the central nave, which will become the Glory facade.

The church shares its site with the Sagrada Família Schools building, a school originally designed by Gaudí in 1909 for the children of construction workers. Relocated in 2002 from the eastern corner of the site to the southern corner, the building now houses an exhibition. Looks like a Disney set to me . . .

However, some of the project’s greatest logistical challenges remain, particularly the erection of ten more spires, each symbolizing an important Biblical figure in the New Testament. 

The image is of the 2017 model showing the simplified plan with the brown tone elements representing completed work.

It is anticipated that the building can be completed by 2026, the 100 year anniversary of Gaudí’s untimely death.

And that enormous interior

The footing plan is that of a Latin cross with five aisles.

The central nave vaults reach forty-five meters (148 feet) while the side nave vaults reach thirty meters (98 feet).

Here comes that sense of wonder again

The transept has three aisles. The columns are on a 7.5 metre (25 ft) grid. However, the columns of the apse, resting on the original foundation, do not adhere to the grid, requiring a section of columns of the ambulatory to transition to the grid thus creating a horseshoe pattern to the layout of those columns.

The crossing rests on the four central columns of porphyry supporting a great hyperboloid surrounded by two rings of twelve hyperboloids.

The central vault reaches sixty meters (200 feet). The apse is capped by a hyperboloid vault reaching seventy-five meters (246 feet).

Gaudí intended that a visitor standing at the main entrance be able to see the vaults of the nave, crossing, and apse; so, he gradually increased the height to the vault loft.

It’s hard to see in this picture – much better in person.

There are gaps in the floor of the apse, providing a view down into the crypt below, where Gaudi has been laid to rest.

The columns of the interior are a unique Gaudí design. Besides branching to support their load, their ever-changing surfaces are the result of the intersection of various geometric forms.

The simplest example is that of a square base evolving into an octagon as the column rises, then a sixteen-sided form, and eventually to a circle. This effect is the result of a three-dimensional intersection of helicoidal columns, like a square cross-section column twisting clockwise and a similar one twisting counter-clockwise.

Few if any of the interior surfaces are flat; the ornamentation is comprehensive and rich, consisting in large parts of abstract shapes which combine smooth curves and jagged points. Even detail-level works such as the iron hand railings on the balconies are full of elaborate curves. It takes a while to see these details even though they’re all around you on your visit.

Some bits-n-bobs about the Sagrada

It is now the most visited monument in Spain.

With almost 3 million visitors a year, the Gaudí masterpiece – which is classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site – has overtaken the Granada’s Alhambra and Madrid’s famous Prado Museum.

Construction is not supported by any government or official church sources.

It has received the name Expiatory Temple because its construction is not supported by any government or church funds. During the earliest stages of its building, it was funded solely by private patrons.

Then, over the following decades, it received private funds from donations and alms. Those funds were used exclusively for the construction of Gaudí’s dream. Money from tickets purchased by tourists is now used to pay for the work, and private donations are accepted through the Friends of the Sagrada Família.

Looking around on the Passion facade, next to the statue of a couple kissing, you might see a 4×4 magic square of 15 numbers that are a brain teaser.

Some have thought that it is a magic constant – i.e. when you add up all numbers horizontally or vertically- is 33, like the age of Christ when he was crucified.

Another explanation is that the number 33 is the highest rank a Freemason can reach. Indeed, Gaudí was probably a Freemason, as his childhood friend Eduard was one and because his home town of Reus, was one of the cradles of Freemasonry and also because Gaudí’s patron, Guëll, was also said to be a Freemason. Anyway, this odd square remains another Gaudi mystery.

Historically, the building of Gaudí’s masterpiece has taken longer than the construction of the Great Pyramids. Indeed, the Pyramids of Giza took 20 years to be built while the Sagrada Familia will take between 144 and 146 years to be completed.

In 1936, a large part of Gaudí’s working plans and models were destroyed.

There was a fire set by anarchists hostile to the perceived abusive power of the Catholic Church. However, Gaudí’s coffin – buried in the church’s crypt – was left untouched.

Afterwards, with only a few instructions and plans remaining from the Gaudí notes left after his 1926 death, the construction of La Sagrada Familia continued, with new architects such as Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puid and Luís Bonet.

They tried to remain faithful to Gaudí’s view and also brought their own style, following Gaudí’s wish for each generation to participate in the construction.

For many Barcelonians of all classes, Gaudí was a saint. Since 2000 there has been a formal move to seek the beatification of Gaudí, popularly known as “God’s architect.” The application is receiving favorable consideration in the Vatican, according to insiders, and success may coincide with its opening in 2026.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada as a minor basilica. . . It’s the 2nd largest in Spain. Barcelona’s real cathedral, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia – Bishop and all – was first completed with a simple west facade in 1417. The building, as we see it today, wasn’t finished until 1913, and can be found in the beautiful Gothic Quarter.

According to Gaudí, straight lines did not exist in nature and this is why the temple should not be constructed with straight lines.

As a symbol of nature, the columns of the Sagrada Familia are built as tree-shaped hyperboloids to support the whole monument. At the ceiling they even end in symbolic flowers.

Gaudí: nothing should be more majestic and powerful than nature.

This is why Gaudí had long thought about the height of his masterpiece. He finally decided that the highest tower, the Torre del Salvador (“Tower of the Savior”), would be 170 meters high, in order to remain 1 meter short of Montjuic above Barcelona. Gaudí found it improper that man’s work might surpass God’s work.

In April of 2011, an arsonist started a small fire in the sacristy. This forced the evacuation of tourists and construction workers, and the sacristy was damaged, even though the fire only took 45 minutes to contain.

Municipal officials were shocked in 2016 to uncover a request for a building permit that had been pending since 1885. Gaudí, having taken over the project from Francisco de Paula del Villar, had submitted his plans to the town hall of Sant Martí de Provençals, a village now part of Barcelona, but never received a reply.

Sagrada Família trustees agreed to pay €36 million in payments to the Barcelona city authorities over 10 years. In October 2018, they negotiated to cover public costs incurred by its activities after 136 years – which allowed them to land a building permit for further construction.

Most of the funds will be directed to improve access between the church and the Barcelona Metro, which runs under the site.

The cathedral now has legal approval for ongoing work in perpetuity to restore and expand the existing structure, with a budget of 374 million euros. The permit itself cost 4.6 million euros and was issued by the city in June of 2019.

In March 2020 construction was halted and the basilica was closed indefinitely for visitors.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, the Sagrada Familia, the Gaudí House Museum, Park Güell  and other Gaudi sites were all closed. As of this writing, they are all still closed. [UPDATE: March 2022 Tickets are now available & Masses are being celebrated again . . . ]

Gaudi had lost everything during the last days before he died. Antoni Gaudi was long misunderstood and the whole of his works discredited. He had no family, no money, no property. This is why he dedicated his last months of life entirely to the Sagrada Familia.

Gaudí had also bad health conditions at the time and was usually mistaken for a beggar. When Gaudi was knocked down by a streetcar, due to his haggard appearance and because he had no identity papers, it took an hour to get him to a hospital where he was recognized, but later died of his wounds.

Within a week he was buried in a basement crypt in the Sagrada, surrounded by thousands of people.

For 40 years after he died, his works were criticized and completely ignored. It was only in 1950s, when artists such as Salvador Dalí & the architect Josep Luip Sert paid homage to him, that Antoní Gaudí was recognized for his work on the Sagrada, Park Guell, and Casa Batllo, among others.

When it’s time to travel again –

– during a layover, a sunny weekend away, or a longer visit to Spain, the one thing you cannot miss during your time in the Catalan capital is a pilgrimage to the Sagrada. 2026 looks like a perfect time to see the finished work . . .

“Place works on the pilgrim . . . that’s what pilgrimage is for.”

Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury

One of the most magnificent churches in the world, this amazing creation brings the building art to life – on an epic scale. Although there’s still much more on the site for the builders to do, I dare you not to have your breath taken away when you first lay your eyes on it each time you visit.

Sources: Wikipedia, Sagrada Familia Blog, SagradaFamilia.org, Friends of the Sagrada Família,