Sagrada Famè­lia

The Basè­lica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Famè­lia (Catalan pronunciation: [s????aè°? f??mi?i?]; English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain), designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudè­ (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral, which must be the seat of a bishop.

Construction of Sagrada Famè­lia had commenced in 1882 and Gaudè­ became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudè­ devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Famè­lia’s construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project’s greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudè­’s death.

The basè­lica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona’s cathedral, over Gaudè­’s design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudè­’s death disregarded his design, and the recent proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain’s high-speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability. Describing Sagrada Famè­lia, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, “It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art” and Paul Goldberger called it, “The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages.”

The church shares its site with the Sagrada Famè­lia Schools building, a school originally designed by Gaudè­ in 1909 for the children of the construction workers. Relocated in 2002 from the eastern corner of the site to the southern corner, the building now houses an exhibition.

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