La Sagrada Familia - Magnifico

The Basilica 

We did a Gaudi day today and it was fantastic. Had a very slow start after sleeping in and eventually got away from the hotel around 11-00 am and headed for the Basilica Sagrada Familia, a 30min walk from the hotel. We got there to find a 1 hr queue for the tickets, but it was well worth the wait.

Tremendous sense of light

and space

We knew that it was going to be really different, both from what we had read and what we had seen of the building the day before, and for me, I wasn't quite sure what it would be like inside. What we encountered was astonishing the inside of the Basilica is really hard to describe, so here are a few inadequate words, enormous, magnificent, serene, organic, over whelming, light both on your spirit and sight.



I mentioned the other day that we have been in a few churches over the last few weeks but nothing to compare to this, it was totally impacting and very moving, and I never thought that I would say that about a church building.

No that is not a paracute

This is natural light off windows

His impression of the Trinity

Antoni Gaudi was a genius. He was an architect, designer, sculpture, builder, mystic. Gaudi envisaged the Sagrada Familia as a bible made of stone, which told the history and mysteries of the Christian faith. He combined his faith with the gifts and abilities that he had to create a massive sculpture, that is made up of thousands and thousands of individual sculptures that make the whole. He was inspired by his personal faith in the creator and also the creation around him. He used the things he saw, trees, plants, animals, and various forms in nature as the source of his inspiration.

A section of the ceiling

Beautiful windows

More beautiful windows

Although he was a trained architect, he was very unconventional and instead of using drawings he created models that were then used to build the Basilica. The building was begun in 1882 and is still being built, 140 years later and 87 years after his death. The current projection is that it will be finished around 2025.

Christ on the Cross inside church

Outside Facade - check out the dog!!

Worshiping

Under the main church structure is a crypt that has been turned into a museum and shows the process that has taken place to get to this stage, truly inspirational.

I have included some photos that cannot really reflect the impact that the place has on you, but hopefully they will convey something of it's grandeur.

This is Mary by the way, not Darth Vader

In 50 languages

Give us this day our daily bread

Me too :-)

The Pipe Organ

Spiral stair case

One of the Saints

No idea

but pretty cool