Port Visit: Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

The back of the cathedral has some many decorations

Trying to take in Barcelona in less than 12 hours is impossible. Even trying to do the highlights well is a difficult too.

The front of the church (not my picture!)

We had our best intentions, but literally only had a taste of the Spanish city.

Since we were a group of eight traveling together, my uncle arranged for a van for us, but we actually got a full-on tour bus instead. How that happened is strange, but it was like our very own hop-on, hop-off bus.

Our first destination was Sagrada Familia, the famous cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi that is still being built. Construction started in 1882, but by the time he died in 1926, only one-quarter of the building was completed.

Construction continues...

The project kept going through private donations, but then construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, and building started again in the 1950s. Now with computer technology, construction has speeded up, and the Roman Catholic cathedral is expected to be completed in 2026, the centenary of Gaudi's death.

The original inspiration for the Basilica Sagrada Familia came from Josep Maria Bocabella, founder of the Spiritual Association of Devotees of St Joseph. He visited the Vatican in 1872 and wanted to build a church.

During the Civil War, Gaudi's workshop was destroyed by Catalan anarchists and so the designs now are based on reconstructions of plans that were burned in the fire as well as on modern adaptations.

Admission into the cathedral (15-22 euros for basic tickets, and can go up as much as 40 euros) is what funds construction, which probably explains why there are so many people there and tickets sell out quickly.

The ceiling of the cathedral that I couldn't see unfortunately!

We didn't get a chance to go in, so we could only admire it from the outside. It covers one giant block and there's so much to see from every angle. I tried sketching part of the facade and even then it was had to squeeze in all the detail. The spires had figures on them as well as words, every little bit had some kind of decoration that was not necessarily symmetrical.

The place is still literally a construction site, with cranes moving materials around as the rest of us watch. It's as if they are putting on a show for us, that they are building this thing...

Same with the beautiful colours reflected inside...! Next time!

In any event it's an excuse to come back when it's finally completed... though Wikipedia says while the main construction will be completed in 2026, the decorations may not be completed until 2030 or 2032...