The Wilde Adventures of the Gentleman Traveler: 11/23/08

Barcelona is very beautiful. Even the regular apartments in this part of the city are lovely. At each intersection the buildings are set at an angle so that they do not come to a point. The intersection is therefore octagon shaped; not square like most of our intersections. As you walk around the city it gives you a feeling of relief as you move from the city block out into the octagon space before heading back into the street between blocks. It is very interesting and makes for nice walking.

Unfortunately, today it has been pouring rain. But that is no problem for me. I borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and ventured out to the Sagrada Familia: The Atonement Church of the Holy Family. This church is unlike any other! It is still unfinished even though it started in 1882. And the genius designer and architect Antoni Gaudi died in 1926.

So if you continue to read on I will take you on a guided walking tour!
You can see the bell towers peeking between the buildings in this pic as I walk along the street toward the church.

This is the Sagrada Familia. No I did not take this picture, but it gives you an idea of the size and shape of the whole thing.

I approached it from the side called “The Passion Entrance.”
The Passion is the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. The architect Gaudi wanted to depict this story in stone. Everything you see is made out of stone and is hand carved. No wonder it has taken so long to finish this church.
See how the supports hold up the roof over the doorway – but none of the supports are just plain straight columns. They are all on an angle, soaring with action and excitement. They draw your attention into the middle.

You will soon notice that there are very few, if any plain bricks. This whole church is an exercise in geometry. You kids all do geometry in school, right? Well it is very useful subject. If you become very good at it you can create amazing things, such as this beautiful, remarkable church.

Now I will give you a close up of this entrance and its scultpures.
This is the sculpture of Judas, one of the Apostles, betraying Jesus by identifying him for the Romans with a kiss on the cheek – notice the serpent at the bottom representing the Devil. Jesus was arrested and Judas was paid silver coins by the Romans, which he later threw away in shame for his betrayal.

The style of the sculptures at this entrance is Modernist, and Cubist in particular – which sounds new, but it is in fact over 150 years old. You will see the characters are not smoothly shaped to look real; but instead are rather square. This side was one of the last Gaudi designed and is very different from the other side, which I will show you later.
Here is Jesus in binding after he was arrested and flogged.

Here is one of the Roman soldiers who arrested him, with his sword carved from the stone.

Here is Jesus, dead upon the cross.

There are mourners nearby. Likely Mary Magdelene.

But, here also is Jesus risen from the dead and ascending into Heaven. This statue is situated quite high above the entrance to symbolize his ascension.

Antoni Gaudi had some very amazing ideas for this church. One of the sketches of the finished church hangs inside.

But first you must pass through these huge beautifully carved doors. The whole door is covered in words; all hand carved.

The inside of this church is also unlike anything we have seen before. There are many strange shapes: all geometric modernist designs. The support columns branch out at the tops. The ceiling does not have any beams or panels like we usually see. There are cone-shaped portholes that fan out at the bottom in the most wonderful shapes – sort of like feathers of a bird; all carved from solid stone.

Where the columns start to branch there are these very peculiar hollow dimples carved into the stone. It seemed clear that something belonged there but I couldn’t imagine what.

Down in the workshop there was a display that explained how many of the shapes in stone were made – including the dimples! They are to be illuminated, almond shaped decorations that will show symbols and crosses. They will also give some light inside the church. The second picture below is a poster that is probably hard to see, but it explains that on the columns there are some places where many of the almond shapes will be clusters together like a bunch of grapes. This is unlike anything I have ever seen in a church and I wonder how people in the late 1800s and early 1900s could have imagined it. How could they put their faith in a man with such fantastical designs!

Now, back outside! The church from the outside is very amazing. There are these huge 100m bell towers – eventually one for each Apostle. Two of them has an elevator to go up and then you take the spiral stairs down.

Well of course I went up! How could you doubt me! Here is the staircase that you must climb from the top of the elevator.

Come, let me show you the views of the rich decorations all over the other towers and sculptures on the outside of this spectacular church!
At the top you are treated to an amazing view of the city of Barcelona. You will notice in these pictures that very heavy rain clouds are rolling in. 10 minutes later it was a torrential downpour!

Now, from the windows of one tower we can see the strange tops of some of the other towers. There are bunches of grapes, clusters of nuts, oranges, palm leaves; all brightly decorated in tile mosaics. How these things don’t fall off is a wonder! And they are the most unexpected decoration on a church. I cannot imagine how they were made.

Now I hope you really appreciate these last two pictures above. If you notice how high up above the city they are, you will understand why I was absolutely crapping myself standing on a tiny little balcony sticking out of the side of one the those huge towers, then turning around and looking upwards to take these shots. You will recall that I dont like heights and this was almost too much for me to bear! I quickly climbed down after this - I just couldn't stay up there any more.

Now, it is time to climb down. Right down this way. *gulp*

There are wonderful little buildings next to the church that were to be the church schools. Gaudi designed them to have a wavy roof! And I know how this was done so maybe we can build one together when I come home. I forgot to take a picture and I cant seem to find any good ones to share.
But inside this building is a recreation of Gaudi’s workshop, and explanations of how he could create such amazingly complex shapes.
This below, is his workshop were he would lay out his drawings and build the models of the sections of the church to be worked on. The little bag hanging on the wall contained his dinner – a few slices of bread, spread with honey and a handful of raisins.

Here we see how he used wood or metal frames, strung with strings like a fishnet to create geometric shapes. In this workshop some of the plaster models are put into place so you can see how the string frame creates the shape. It is truly amazing that this man could see the solid shape in his mind when it was only a string model!

In this pic below you can see how a string cone was used to make the cone portholes you saw in the ceiling inside the church.

Now this one below is probably hard to see clearly but let me tell you this one surprised me the most. When you walk up to the church, the towers are the most striking feature. Their cone shape is just so unique. It is hard to imagine how anyone could think how to build up such a structure. Well, the key is to imagine it upside down!!

Using strings and little bags of sand as weights, Gaudi designed the towers of the church upside down – he started at the top of this model and hung the strings down to make the shapes of the tower (because when a string hangs down with a weight on the end, gravity helps make a perfectly straight line!). Then when he had the design right, he would make moulds of the shapes, turn them right side up and take them to the stone masons and say “carve the stone like this.” Isn’t that amazing! The church is amazing enough as it is – let alone thinking of it upside down. And all it takes is a good knowledge of geometry; just like you are learning in school now.

So, that is really all I could see of the inside. The rest of the church is filled with scaffolding because they are still building it. So back outside to the other beautiful entrance – the Nativity Entrance!
The Nativity is the story of the birth of Jesus - which is very appropriate to visit this time of year. The whole side of the church is carved with the characters of the story, while the clouds of heaven soar above them, dotted with the Heavenly Host of Angels and doves.

The whole thing is topped with a tile mosaic of white doves and green foliage - its hard to see at the top of this pic below.

I think this side of the church was the first section to be done, so it is quite dark from the grime of the city for the last 100 years. The sculptures are quite different from the other side – Gaudi was much younger when he designed this side.
We three kings of orient are, trying to smoke a rubber cigar...