In terms of beauty and the number of historical monuments, Barcelona is firmly in the TOP European cities: the number of tourists to this Spanish city per year is in the millions and continues to increase every year. In many ways, the capital of Catalonia should be grateful to the genius architect Antoni Gaudi for this interest, who literally put his soul into the image of Barcelona. One of the master's unsurpassed masterpieces has been standing unfinished for almost a century and a half, but it is still recognized as the most valuable object of the world cultural heritage. This is a small papal basilica - the Sagrada Familia, or, as its name is translated from Catalan, the Atonement Church of the Holy Family.
The history of the construction and the concept of the temple
The idea to build a papal basilica in Barcelona was announced in 1874. Fundraising began immediately (until now, construction is carried out only with private donations and proceeds from visiting the temple), and in March 1882 the foundation stone of the future temple was solemnly laid. The young Gaudi received an epoch-making project in development, while still a very young and little-known architect: in his track record there was only one completed project - part of an industrial production for bleaching cotton linen. The great improviser Gaudí did not even think about the layout of the future Sagrada Familia temple, preferring to work on a whim.
The construction was started by another architect, who managed to lay the crypt with a Latin cross and designed an apse with 7 chapels and an extensive gallery. Gaudi, who replaced him, rejected the standard solutions and set about erecting vaults-towers directed into the sky, which for him had a deep evangelical fullness of meaning. The architects who lived at that time were sure that the towers would collapse, and the vaults would not withstand the pressure, and only after many decades computer analysis proved how accurate the master was from an engineering point of view.
What Gaudi came up with
The ceilings of the Sagrada Familia rest on a reinforced concrete colonnade extending 20 m deep. Basalt and granite were used in the facing of the pillars, giving additional strength to the structure, capitals in the form of intertwined branches entwine the arch of the temple with an outlandish web and serve as an additional grip between the vault and the pillars. In general, the theme of trees can be clearly seen in the work of Gaudi, it was close to him, as evidenced by many of his buildings.
Gaudi conceived his temple as a trinity of Christmas, the Passion and the Ascension of Christ, creating a temple with three facades and 12 towers above each in honor of the 12 disciples of the Savior. He also conceived 4 towers as a sign of the evangelists, one in honor of the Mother of God and a 170-meter tower to commemorate Christ. The architect dreamed that the angels would be happy to look at this temple from heaven. The Great Lorca compared the Sagrada Familia with "an organ for God", since one of the master's ideas was the resonance of all the towers during a strong wind and the birth of divine music.
The death of Gaudí and the further fate of the Sagrada Familia
The solemn ringing of the first tram announced the streets of Barcelona on June 7, 1926: the people rejoiced, the mayors made speeches, noisy city events were planned, but suddenly it became known that Antonio Gaudi had died under the wheels of the carriage. Glee gave way to mourning. The masters were buried within the bounds of his most grandiose creation, which inscribed the name of Gaudi in the annals of world architecture - the Atonement Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona.
As in the beginning of construction, the temple continues to be built with public money, different architects take on the work, causing mainly the disapproval of the Barcelona residents, who dubbed the recently completed facade part of the Passion an episode from "Star Wars". But the practice of completing temples by different craftsmen is quite traditional for Europe, and everyone hopes that one day the music that the great Gaudí dreamed of will be heard from the towers of the Sagrada Familia.
