Camino Barcelona Blog

Hello everyone! Hope you are all fine! I see you are all very tanned! You are really enjoying ‘las playas de Barcelona’

Today I would like to write something about the Sagrada Familia, the only temple still in construction in the world (125 years in construction). It is also the only temple in the world that receives donations by volunteer people to continue the construction, as it does not get any funds from the Government. I find it a gigantic and pageantry building; I was impressed by all the little details that were worked up on it.

This is the most famous work of Gaudi; he dedicated all his life to this building; he would even sleep inside the temple to have more time to work on it. The construction of the temple started in 1881 and the initiator was ‘Josep Maria Bocadella’. The beginning was very difficult because of budget problems (which are still ongoing and this is one of the reasons why this great temple is still in construction). The first budget for the building of the temple was 1034 € (125 years ago!), a money which Bocadella kept under the floor tiles of his store because he was afraid someone could steal that.

During the civil war in 1936-39 the temple had some bad effects because the tomb where Gaudi’s drawings were, got burned. This of course delayed the construction of the temple. After the war, all the remainders of the models were collected to be able to continue with the construction of the temple.

The Sagrada Familia is a temple of ‘basilica’ type with a shape of Latin cross, the total length of the temple is of 95 metres. This temple has two exits, the Nativity façade and the Passion façade. The main nave has the exit to the Glory façade, the most important one and still not built, this will also be the main gate of the temple. These façades have the mission to illustrate in an understandable way the mysteries of the birth, passion and reappearance - glory - of Jesus.

The ‘Sagrada Familia’ temple is located between the streets of ‘Mallorca’ and ‘Provença’ with a total surface of 12.800 m2. You can go there by metro, purple Line (line 2) and stop at ‘Sagrada Familia’ metro stop. Opening times are 09:00 – 20:00 and the ticket normally costs 10 Euros (you can have discounts if you go as a group).

Right now the works are going fast and it’s predicted that the construction of the temple will be finished in 20-25 years.

Hope this was interesting for you and that you find time to visit this great temple!

Have a nice weekend

Genta 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under What to do in Barcelona, Spanish Culture - Cultura española, Genta's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.