The Sagrada Familia is finished, sort of

Continuing with Moe's excellent choice of lazy-Sunday-suited subjects...

Visiting the great cathedrals of Europe you can't help but marvel at the dedication represented by a construction project that would not see completion for possibly hundreds of years after the architect and original engineers and financiers were long dead. Off-and-on construction on my very favorite European cathedral, the Duomo in Milan, lasted from 1386 to 1813, for example.

My "second favorite" cathedral has always been somewhat of a dodgy choice because it's still not complete and most likely won't be for at least another 30 years. Who knows if I'll actually like the end result (or if I'll be here to see it)? But having visited the "in-progress" Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, I can say no other building in the world has so powerfully fired my imagination or captured what I feel 20th Century Christian spirituality had achieved and/or aspired to than this particular vision. "Masterpiece" seems an understatement for something that seems so otherwordly.

Architect Antonio Gaudí died* when his greatest work was only 15% complete, and his notes and designs were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. It's still only about 40% complete (and finishing it is not uncontroversial) but thanks to technology, some contemporary imagination, and an impatient advertising executive and film producer named Toni Meca, we can now see how it will/might look when finished:

Virtual Sagrada Familia

The technology it took to accomplish this---The degree of detail in computer models is measured in units called polygons; the finished Sagrada Familia model required 35 million polygons, more than 10 times the number used to create the model of the ship in the film "Titanic."---is described in more detail on the website http://www.tmdreams.com/.

*The tour guide I followed while visiting the Sagrada Familia had a thick accent and so when she explained what I thought was that "a tram ran into the cathedral" I was confused about how that had killed Gaudí...was he just heart-broken...and why were they constructing a building over a tram track anyway. My laughing companions explained that the tram ran into Gaudí.

UPDATE: I just read that last bit and it seemed a bit odd...my friends were laughing at my confusion...NOT the fact that a tram ran over Gaudí.

Comments

[wilfred]

Edward, this is magnificent. Upon considering it fully i was even more impressed and this is after 3 visits to Barcelona and the actual site. Sadly, i looked upon the thread and saw no one felt this was worth responding to. How can those who have had access to so much not feel compelled to exclaim anything at all?

[rilkefan]

"Sadly, i looked upon the thread and saw no one felt this was worth responding to."

I didn't respond because Edward had said what I would have said, and better. I've been to the church a few times and tried to sketch a few poems about it, but it's just too big and wild and hard to believe. And it's hard to believe someone had the force of will to get such a personal vision built. There are some modern additions (sculptures in particular) that I don't think serve it well, but even that's sort of fitting. But maybe it should be left unfinished and architects should make more virtual completions for us to contemplate.

[Moe Lane]

I was out roleplaying; I certainly would have responded if I had been around at the time, if only because I've rarely seen something that could be so honestly categorized as being 'endearingly ugly'. I mean, it's downright hideous on first glance... but it sort of grows on you, you know?

[wilfred]

i understand what you mean moe, it's kind of like a ray harryhausen wet dream. but what a fantasy come to life it is.

[praktike]

we sang a concert in the crypt of the cathedral in '01 ... beautiful acoustics despite the wonderful bizarreness of the cathedral itself.

btw, looking at the nave from the street, doesn't it remind one of the grand hall Moria ... or, uh, vice versa?

[Gary Farber]

Drums... drums in the deep....

[Fabius]

I was waiting for Wilfred to comment on it so I would have something to respond to. I can't help but say that it looks a bit, well, gaudy.

[Edward]

I can't help but say that it looks a bit, well, gaudy

LOL

philistine!

e

[von]

i've been to the church a few times and tried to sketch a few poems about it, but it's just too big and wild and hard to believe.

Like trying to write a poem about a poem, I suspect.

The (former) Mosque at Cordoba is the other religious must-see. We were at the Mosque during Holy Week a few years back, and the sight of the processions winding about the narrow streets is still impossible for me to put into words.

[Volker Klein]

For me no other building on this planet is impressive like The Sagrada Familia. I am following the construction since my youth - my first visit was in 1961.

Sadly, not much progress could be recorded during the 60ies and 70ies; from my point of view the recent switch towards the use of steel and concrete has really accelerated the speed of Sagradas's completion. Current estimates vary between 20 - 30 years before all work will be done.

It is one of my deepest wishes to see and visit this glorious monument of architecture before it will be time to switch the lights off.

[Rob Bray]

I would also like to exclaim my love for la sagrada familia, but I cannot comprhend Josep Subirachs work on the passion facade. It totally ruins the look and feel of the passion facade with his individual style. If Gaudi were alive, im sure he would have rebuked Subirachs for his individual horrid impetus on this great building.
(By the way, la sagrada familia is a basilica not a cathedral)
Rob

[john b]

What struck me after looking at the completed plans was that the grand entrance as yet unbuilt will have to jut out into the road on the sw side if it is to have any approach at all. On one of the 3d animations of it it showed a boulevard approach up to this which would show it off marvellously. While i usually dont applaud compulsory demolition of homes businesses i think it would be well worth it in this instance and hope it is planned.