LA SAGRADA FAMILIA, much more than just a cathedral. What to know.

La Sagrada Familia, the majestic heart of Barcelona. It is really true that this aesthetically different piece of architecture stands out in the city centre. This amazingly beautiful and modern building can be admired almost from any high spot in the city, and from far it looks a little like some wet sand a child poured down from his fingers to create a castle, which is a nice trip down memory lane for pretty much everybody.

In the first 6/7 months I lived in Barcelona I liked to hike up the Bunkers and see it sticking out between the buldings of the neat and packed set of roads that crosses the whole city. When I lived a little outside from the centre, just next to the marvellous Modernist Hospital de Sant Pau, I would walk down the beautiful Avinguda Gaudi while enjoying a ‘cafe cortado para llevar’ or a juice, arrive just in front of this breathtaking construction and admire it.

Just recently my family came over to visit and they wanted to see it absolutely, so I went in with them. Well, Ladies & Gentlemen, if you think it’s impressive from outside, just wait to go inside. I’m not sure whether I felt more inside the tummy of a whale or in the middle of a forest of very very tall and minimalistic trees. The coordination of lines, the geometry and simmetry of each bit leaves you speechless. It is incredible how such an artist managed to imagine and develop such modern and futuristic columns, followed by all the colorful windows from which the sunlight penetrates and create a beam of multicoloured, natural light. My advise, before trying to understand the reason behind the genius of Gaudi, is to just sit, breath deeply and get lost in the visual enjoyment you’ve in front of you. Of course I suggest you to pick a very sunny day to go to enjoy fully the experience, when it’s cloudy the light doesn’t penetrate in that powerful and amazing way through the colourful windows and the effect isn’t as magic.

Here you go with a brief but clear explanation of what means what and why. The construction of the Basilica began in 1882 and is expected to be completed in 2020. Gaudì has decided to enrich its intention to perfectly combine nature and religion with bizarre and vivid colors. It has 3 facades, each representing respectively the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The 18 towers, in order of height, are the 12 apostles (the lowest), the four evangelists (represented by the four drawings of the man, the bull, the eagle and the lion), the Virgin Mary and the highest and most important: Jesus Christ. The tallest towers are less high than Montjuïc for a metre, since Gaudí believed that his work should not surpass that of God. The towers are topped with clusters of grapes of different colors, representing the spiritual fruit. The central aisles are still under construction and are characterized by columns recalling huge trees and a ceiling that seems covered with giant sunflowers. The ability of Gaudí to recall nature everywhere in such a spiritual place is impressive, in fact, the two come together, giving a general harmony and serenity to the place and to the people in it.

The only flaw that I feel I must say, regards the opportunity to climb up one of the two towers open to the public, which clearly implies a surcharge of € 5. Once at the top, what you see, is practically zero, and after tasting a meter of space between the crane and the work in progress, you descend.

So if I can give you some advice, forget the towers and rather go to Montjuic or Bunker del Carmelo to see Barcelona from above, which is definitely nicer and less expensive. Also because, afterall, the view of Barcelona without its Sagrada Familia in the middle, loses a little its charm, a bit like Paris when climbing the Eiffel Tower.

To skip the queue and purchase the online ticket, check the official website out: http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/