Saturday, March 6, 2010

Sagrada Familia



Men are divided into two categories: men of words and men of action. The former talk, the latter act. I belong to the second group. I lack the means of expressing myself. I could not tell you about the concept of art. I need to give it a concrete form. I have never had to time to question myself. I have spent my time working. Like everything human, I am incomplete... Antoni Gaudí







The cathedral Sagrada Familia (or Holy Family Church), Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, has been under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. Gaudi worked on the cathedral until his death in 1926. His original blueprints for the structure were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in 1938 but a few models survived. Construction continued, employing the most dedicated architects and sculptors who followed Gaudi's original ideas wherever possible, and invoked his unique vision when creating new designs for those missing blueprints. Pope Benedict XVI will consecrate the famed Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona this November, when it will at last be declared a place of religious worship, no longer just for tourists.

2 comments:

dorothy said...

Gaudi died crossing the street. He was hit by a bus or streetcar, while looking up at a building or something else that caught his fancy.

Susan said...

Yes, and because he was dressed shabbily and unrecognized, he was taken (in no hurry) to the hospital for the 'poor'. Gaudi is buried at Sagrada Familia, his magnum opus.