La Sagrada Familia

Photo © Gaudi & Barcelona Club

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is one of Gaudí's most impressive works, and it is still some 80 years from completion. This enormous church is in some respect a summary of everything that Gaudí designed before because the structural difficulties he faced and errors he committed in other projects are revisited and resolved here.

A notable example of this is Gaudí's innovative "leaning columns" (that is, columns that are not at right angles to the floor and ceiling). Previously seen in Parque Güell, leaning columns form the structure of Sagrada Familia's temple. When designing the temple, Gaudí invented an extraordinary method for determining the correct angle for each of the leaning columns. He made a small hanging model of the church, using string to represent the columns. Then he turned the model upside down and... gravity did the math.

The ongoing construction of Sagrada Familia is paid for by tourism. Once completed, the church will have 18 towers, each dedicated to a different religious figure, and each one hollow, allowing the placement of various types of bells which will sound with the choir.

The architectural style of Sagrada Familia has been called "warped Gothic," and it's easy to see why. The rippling contours of the stone façade make it look as though Sagrada Familia is melting in the sun, while the towers are topped with brightly-colored mosaics which look like bowls of fruit. Gaudí believed that color is life, and, knowing that he would not live to see completion of his masterpiece, left colored drawings of his vision for future architects to follow.

• More Photos of Sagrada Familia
• Life and Works of Antoni Gaudí
• Architecture in Spain