BARCELONA 2

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La Familia Sagranda - Gaudi's great unfinished opus - is a must see for anyone visiting Barcelona. To avoid the masses try to get there early although it's unlikely it will make a huge amount of difference. I went on a Friday and made it there for about 11:30am and I reckon there was a good hours worth of queue for the lift and not less that half that for the stairs. Imagine what it must be like at weekends? Despite this, and the sort of temperatures reached at this time of year, Sagrada Familia is undoubtedly one of the highlights of any visit to this licentious city.
It shouldn't be. It should be most frustrating given the ridiculous amount of time it's taking to get it finished (the first stone was laid in 1882). But once you realise the quite extent of Gaudi's original design (and indeed Catalonia’s chequered past) one is more forgiving. Indeed as the elaborations of this project become all the more clear you are quite prepared to let whoever is responsible to take all the time in the world to refine this masterpiece.
It's defined as expressionistic in style but this is an oversimplification. It's the most audacious structure I have ever come across beholding such a mass of contradictions, a strange subterfuge of baroque and minimalism. How can this be? The Passion Façade on the west side of the cathedral is particularly indicative of this synergy with its Calvary hewn from stone in simplistically abrupt angles, a stark contrast to the soft busy contours of the Nativity façade situated geometrically opposite on the east side of the cathedral. They were built years apart but were born out of the same blueprint, not just in concept, but in their design also. Where as the Nativity façade plays host to what we might think of as more traditional almost gothic caricature, the Passion reflects a more modernist approach with its basic figures resembling a cubist painting or a rough sketch by Picasso. This I find particularly delightful with its sweeping curved lines etched deep into the ‘clothes’ of these monoliths suggesting dynamic movement with severe intent. The western façade was started in 1954, the towers completed in 1976 and the façade itself as recently as 1985 and the contrast in colour between this and its more weathered eastern counterpart is in itself a stark indicator as to the time it has taken thus far.
In the nave things just get better. Resembling some futurist rib cage, huge parabolic struts support the roof and what will ultimately be a huge tower dwarfing those that already exist above the Nativity and Passion facades. It’s really quite hard to get your head around the forces and stresses that must be at work here but Gaudi had it all worked out. By studying the way in which nature supports itself, structurally, Gaudi determined he could support weights far greater than were considered viable at the time. Staring up at the ceiling of some 20, 30 metres above the whole thing looks more like the recently completed tube station atrium at Canary Wharf rather than a plan conceived by a man over one hundred years earlier. Gaudi’s understanding of architectural loads I’m guessing was way ahead of it’s time.

And then onto F.C. Barcelona’s ‘Nou Camp’, the largest football stadia in Europe with an all-seated capacity of 98,800. Built in 1956 (it shows) enlarged in 1980 to accommodate World Cup football it’s currently undergoing a degree of much needed cosmetic surgery to smarten up it’s environs. Indeed it’s pretty unremarkable from the outside save for the glass fronted façade fronting the atrium leading into what is the heart of the ground. It is on this side where one is permitted to take in a tour that includes the changing rooms, press room, chapel (!), directors’ boxes, commentary gallery, F.C. Barcelona’s self gratifying museum of football and the terraces themselves. And it is in the latter that one gets the best view of this place. It’s doesn’t look as big as one expects - a common symptom when visiting famous stadia so I’m told (although Milan’s San Siro/Guiseppe Meazza doesn’t disappoint) - but none the less impresses with it’s pristine lines begging you to witness this building in action. I can’t think of many sporting events I’d like to experience more than a sultry summers evening watching Barcelona destroy their opposition, floodlights on at full glare.

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Comments

[Gus_Granada]

These thing take time
There´s another good reason for its slow construction: Gaudi and Catholic Authorities wanted the Sagrada Familia to be an "Templo Expiatorio" which means that it can only be built with donations from private persons or institutions. So there can be no money from the government or from taxes or anything. Just private donations. If I´m not told wrong threre´s a big collect every year. Thus, it will take at least another 70 years to get it finished. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

[Carol Bailey]

Fantastic
Our first sighting as we emerged from the Metro blew me away. I have wanted to visit Barcelona for the last 10 years, imagin my delight when I finally saw the Temple with my own eyes. Awesome does not even approach the feelings my friends and I experienced. We walked around examining every inch that we could, drinking in the wonder. Fantastic. The Park and Apartment Blocks are pretty impressive too!

[NATIONOFJAMES]

A long wait
Yes, I was aware of this fact but didn't see it as particuarly relevant to what I was trying to get across which was more concerned with the LOOK of the thing. Thanks anyway.