A place I will visit before I leave this world.. There are many people who hold such thoughts, about a place of a person that they must go to, or meet before they die. Yet, when given the opportunity, or when they are there, they feel confusion or are at lost as to how to response or even feel.

I too have such thoughts. I do not know why, but I have a special attraction to momental structures. Its like I can't help but feel humble just near one of them. The place I want to visit is Temple de la Sagrada Familia. For a really long time, I have thought of visiting it, and I can only experience it through the photos available from books or the internet, but nothing beats being there in person.

Since primary school, I had wanted to be an architect. But, a decade later, it seems that I have done or accomplished not much that would actually bring me closer to that goal. All these years, I had merely just went through with the flow of the education system and all seems rather smooth. Until the final moment of being admitted into the local architectural school that all hopes of succeeding seem to be slim, and all seems gloomy. I have also come to the realization that I have wasted my last decade of life.

My interest in Gaudi all started along time ago when I first saw a chinese newspaper having a column on him. The title was someting of Gaudi and his modernism, in chinese. In those days, I did not grasp the full meaning of modernism. Then, a particular building caught my attention. No, it was not the Sagrada Familia. It was his Casa Batllo. I thought, this building was nothing like I ever seen before, it had dragonscale like roof and also a seleton- like facade with bone like pillars or something. At the point of time, this was one of the coolest building I have ever seen.

Anyway, because of all this and Gaudi's works, Barcelona has become one of the cities that I actually like to visit. And of course, if you are there, you would definitely not miss Barcelona's greatest cathedral, the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. Actually, I had one opportunity to go there, as my friends are going for a holiday around Europe, but as their budget exceeds mine by 3 to 4 times, I gave it a miss, regretfully.

A note is that Antonio Gaudi actually did not manage to finish his last work during his lifetime (June 25 1852- June 10 1926). It is forseen that eventually twelve spires will be built, each depicting one of the twelve disciples.

Today, it is possible to go up some of these spires by means of a steep, snail shaped, stone staircase with 400 steps. My friends did not climb it due to time constraints and long queue, I heard that there is a waiting time of 30 minutes. Looking at the above photo always leave me in awe, its going to get bigger and higher.. Anyway, here are some photos, all of the photos are from books or internet unless otherwise stated.




The photos above are some view, both exterior and interior of the spires of the cathedral.


Since it is difficult to replace the pieces that cover the spires of the towers, Gaudi commissioned workers of Murano, in Venice, to create vitreous pieces of mosaic, which are much more resistant. This is one example of the innumerable collarborations of artisans. Gaudi also enlisted the skills of numerous sculptors, including Joan Matamala; Flotats, Llorenc, Matamal i Pinol and Jaume Basquets.

Gaudi's dedication to his works are also well known. For the Sagrada Familia, he often stayed at the temple, just to observe how the first ray of light hit the building and he has also a model to see how throughout the day, the light and shadows will change and interplay. Another example is of his work at the Casa Batllo, which he accepted despite having another ongoing project. Still, the building had his remarkable personal touch. He was there when, they are laying the ceramics and he directed how each tile was supposed to be layyed to get the best light of it. This was the extent of his involvement in his projects.

Another point was also that, at a time, he was rushing to meet the deadline for finishing the western facade of the Sagrada Familia because it faced the city, So it had to be up sooner than the rest. Hoever, gaudi stood his ground and had the approach that his facade hade a motive running from left to right, start to finish, birth of christ to his death. There was no way to skip that, just to finish the death before the birth just because it faced the city. To Gaudi, all this does not makes sense, and this is his way of doing things logically.

More pictures below:






On June 12, 1926, Gaudi was run over by a tram. He died three days later in the at Hospital de la Santa Creu. Since then chapions and critics of the temple have debated its completetion. Yet, construction continues its course thatnks to donations from aound the world.

Construction on the church has continued for more than 100 years and the end is still far off..

More details can be seen here