Cities Tourism Guide - Sagrada Familia, Eixample & Gaudi

La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi Cathedral Barcelona

Begun in 1882, initially under the architect Francisco de Paula Villar, Gaudi took over the project a year later and laboured on it until his death in 1926. As many visitors to the Sagrada Familia might have noticed, work on the Sagrada continues - this Gaudi building seems to continually be surrounded by cranes. The cranes have even started appearing in official tourist brochures.

Building work above ground isn't the only issue. A highspeed train link is underway underground, to link Barcelona direct with Madrid. The line is to run just 4 metres in front of the Sagrada Familia underground from Av.Mallorca. Cracks have appeared, and there is some trepidation on how this will affect the safety of the Sagrada structure - the weight of the building is huge, and increasing. Controversy continues and campaigns to stop the building of the high speed train line have started!

Gaudi's original plan was for 18 towers (8 stand currently), with 12 towers ode to the 12 apostles and 4 to the evangelists. The Sagrada was also to have three facades with one depicting the holy birth - the work completed by Gaudi himself, another to depict the Passion, the work completed by sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs after Gaudi's death, and the third to depict the Resurrection - this one is yet to be built! They've put a deadline on building completion around 2037. Work currently in 2007 is focused on the the transepts and the apse.

Sagrada Familia, Mallorca, 401 08013 Barcelona. Tel. 93 207 30 31. (see Sagrada Familia weblink right for opening times and history).

Antoni Gaudi Biography, Gaudi Barcelona & Gaudi Museum Sagrada Familia

Although now closely associated with Barcelona for obvious reasons, Antoni Gaudi was born in 1852 in Reus near Tarragona. Influenced early on by nature and natural forms and shapes (which he later attempted to recreate in his structures), Gaudi studied architecture in Barcelona. Almost as soon as Gaudi had completed his training, commissions came his way mostly, as was to be the pattern from the Church and rich local industrialists. In Gaudi's case the Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph were to finally commission Gaudi with the Sagrada Familia building, and Barcelona rich industrialist and philanthropist Eusebi Guell who commissioned Gaudi for both Park Guell and Palau Guell. Numerous other commissions from wealthy bourgeois in Barcelona were to ensure Gaudi made his mark on this Spanish city.

Antoni Gaudi's thought, influences and themes are explored in-depth via the Gaudi Guide weblink right. Paramount to Gaudi's thought, and reflected in his work include high colour ornamentation, curved straight lines resisting limitations, the artist's work as monument, originality and the influence of nature from which all things come, parabold, synthesis and reason. (learn more via the weblink). Within the Sagrada Familia complex you can take the lift up one of the towers (get ready for the queues) and browse around the fascinating museum which displays numerous old photographs of the building of the Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi commissions such as Casa Batillo around Barcelona. Constructions of what the finished Sagrada will look like, plus Gaudi furniture designs and manuscripts and drawings are also in here.

Gaudi's legacy and influence on modern architecture is clear, and specific innovative architectural techniques first used by Gaudi are explored in the Sagrada Familia Gaudi museum. Architecturally speaking his work is ground-breaking, and numerous contemporary architects still allude to that fact.

Gaudi died in a Barcelona tram accident in 1926. The Nativity facade which he had started on the Sagrada Familia was completed 9 years later in 1935. A year later saw the beginning of the Spanish Civil war, with Barcelona a hotbed for anarchism and with huge numbers joining the CNT (Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo) against Franco. The destruction of Gaudi's manuscripts and plans for the Sagrada by the anarchists in 1936 is rarely put within the context of years of repression and abuse by the Catholic church, and the poverty, poor wages and living conditions of those working in the Barcelona factories as compared to the bourgeois who lavished commissions on Gaudi. Gaudi himself was a staunch Catholic and Nationalist.

Gaudi Buildings Barcelona L'Eixample, Fundacio Antoni Tapies

Checkout the Ruta del Modernisme weblink right for an excellent guide to Barcelona's Modernisme buildings, including Antoni Gaudi's many Barcelona commissions, a host of which are here in L'Eixample.

Casa Batllo, Antoni Gaudi's apartment block creation, greets you as you exit the Passeig de Gracia metro. Known locally as Casa del Ossos/house of bones and Cas del Drac/house of the dragon, Batllo is a spectacular mesh of swirls, ornate windows and decorative tiled chimney pots. Casa Batllo (1904-1906) is one of L'Eixample's most striking buildings. Take tours inside to view Gaudi's interior design (weblink right for opening times and details). Casa Batllo, Pg.de Gracia, 43, Barcelona. Tel. 932 160 306.

Other Gaudi buildings in the L'Eixample area include Casa Mila La Pedrera (1906-1912). Find it on Provenca, 261-265, Barcelona. Tel. 902 400 973 (weblink right). See also Casa Calvet, Carrer de Casp 48, Barcelona. Tel. 93 412 40 12. (Metro Urquinaona). Casa De Les Punxes on Avinguda Diagona 420 (Metro Diagona) is the work of Puig i Cadafalch. Dating from 1903 to 1904, the building is an extravaganza of Gothic fantasy.

Not to be missed, even if you go to just view the outside of this modernisme building, is the Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Carrer d'Arago 255, Barcelona. Tel. 93 487 03 15 (weblink right/Metro Passeig de Gracia). An experimental work supreme in Barcelona, the Tapies building is adorned with twisting barbed wire and wild sculptures. Inside are more Tapies treasures - the best collection of his work is held here.