Pope To Consecrate Sagrada Família.

[obeygiant]

BARCELONA — On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI will consecrate as a basilica the most famous monument in Barcelona, the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família.

Beside the religious importance of the event, the pope’s visit will showcase the latest architectural and artistic features of the Sagrada Família, which has remained a work in progress ever since its brilliant Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí, died after being hit by a tram in 1926.

The pope’s arrival has been preceded by frenetic building activity, with some 300 workers scrambling to ensure that the Sagrada Família — particularly its nave and high altar — would be ready to allow the pope to lead a Mass in front of about 7,000 people.

That construction work, however, is taking place amid a debate that has been waged for decades over whether the Sagrada Família is drifting too far from its creator’s artistic vision. Some also argue that the Sagrada Família’s tourism appeal — it draws an estimated 2.5 million visitors a year — lies precisely in the fact that it is one of the world’s greatest unfinished works of art.

“We are running the risk of doing a pastiche of the Gaudí concept,” said Narcís Serra, a former mayor of Barcelona. “To try to finish this temple nowadays is no longer about following his exact plans. From the point of view of respecting his work, it would have been much better to stop at the point when we were no longer sure that this was exactly what he wanted.”

But Jordi Bonet, the 85-year-old architect who has been in charge of constructing the Sagrada Família for almost three decades, leads an even stronger chorus that insists that Gaudí never yearned for such a monumental project to be completed just as he had foreseen. Mr. Bonet stressed that Gaudí himself left a certain degree of artistic freedom to those working alongside him. “Almost every cathedral has been the work of many people and over many centuries,” Mr. Bonet said. “Even when he was in charge, there were 40 different sculptors working for Gaudí, and of course he inspired them, intervened and commented on their work — but it remained the work of several different sculptors.”

Gaudí’s own comments also give credence to the idea that he was neither a control freak nor determined to stick to a timetable. For example, he planned 18 bell towers for the Sagrada Família, according to records made by his assistants, but said: “I have decided to leave it only scheduled so that another generation will collaborate on the Temple, as is repeatedly seen in the history of cathedrals. The work of the Sagrada Família progresses slowly because the master of this work is in no great hurry.”

Gaudí was an ardent Catholic and in recent years has even been considered a candidate for sainthood. “Man without religion is a man with spiritual failings, a mutilated man,” he said. Mr. Bonet, who is also deeply versed in Catholic liturgy, is the son of an architect who assisted Gaudí. His father and Gaudí developed what Mr. Bonet calls “a good friendship.” Mr. Bonet’s introduction to the Sagrada Família was as a 7-year-old, when he attended a Communion Mass in its crypt.

Gaudí was more concerned with artistic representations of nature than of religion, and wanted the Sagrada Família’s interior to be “like a forest,” he said. His interest in the natural world is what draws so many visitors to Barcelona.

NYT

I've always be fascinated with the design here.

It should be finished in 2026. Rendition of finished work

Anyone seen it in person?

 

[einmusiker]

I did in 2002. I was studying abroad in Vienna and spet a week in Barcelona and made a point to see as much Gaudi as possible. This piece was particularly profound.

 

[Abstract]

I don't think it looks gaudy at all.

 

[Randman]

I loved visiting Barcelona and that church in particular. Even the non-religious are amazed by it.

 

[Statik]

That's awesome. Was there is 2007. One of my best memories of Spain was sitting at a little coffee shop just outside the church enjoying a sweet and a Cafe Latte just admiring the view.

 

[weckart]

It looks ok from a distance. I made the mistake of going up the tower and looking at the embellishments close by. It looked like a primary school project.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Anyone seen it in person?

Yes, but the HeX has all those pics.

I did in 2002.

In 1990, on one of those 17 countries in 28 days tours.

I don't think it looks gaudy at all.

<snicker>

Maybe they'll dig up all the Pope's in the intervening time, so they can participate is this glorious accomplishment by Man, in servitude to his God.

 

[Melrose]

The amount of detail on the thing is outstanding, but it really is gad awful ugly. It looks like a bunch of stalactites supplanted from a huge cave into a modern city.

 

[Statik]

The amount of detail on the thing is outstanding, but it really is gad awful ugly. It looks like a bunch of stalactites supplanted from a huge cave into a modern city.

I believe that was the effect they were going for; Something that looks like it was grown from the earth instead of being forcefully carved from stone. I'd love to go back if it is finished in my life time to see it again. It was quite surreal to see a little chapel in the back and then construction workers and machinery everywhere else while touring the inside.

As for ugly, well, it is Gaudí after all.