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Gaudí: de la Sagrada Família

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I took these photos years back when visiting Barcelona (Spain). I am admiring Antoni Gaudí’s works and I hope to visit all his works in Spain. It’s an ambitious plan but worth to consider as most of his buildings are photogenic.

The church Sagrada Família is perhaps his most significant work that has to be completed. The construction began in 1882 led by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. He abandoned the project due to some disagreements that later in 1883, the project was handed over to Antonio Gaudí. It became his lifetime project. The church was also called as the Cathedral of the Poor and financed entirely by donations. Gaudí himself said: “The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them.”

At my first sight the church looked alike a huge cave with lava materials with its outer walls decorated by hand-crafted sculptures of religious figures and scenes. There were four façades in Sagrada Familia: the Nativity façade, the Passion façade, the Glory façade and the Apse façade.  The Nativity façade covered the story of the birth of Jesus. The religious scenes like  the Three Wise Men, or the baby Jesus, Maria and Joseph, are crafted in details.  Stunning imagination inspired by the Bible. This part was aimed to celebrate the early life of Jesus.

There were several sculptures that representing the scenes of crucifixion of Jesus. This area was called as the Passion façade. The façade dealt with the last few days of the life of Jesus. I was told there were 100 figures for this façade alone. The rest of the façades is to be completed.

Judas Kiss
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

The Sagrada Família is truly a magnificent building. It is visited by more than 2.5 millions people every year, and it is anticipated to complete by 2026. I hope to visit it again to see how it looks like after my last visit.

Practical Information

Official website of the Sagrada Família 

Buy ticket online to avoid queues – online ticket website

Opening hours:
October – March: 09:00 – 18:00
April – September: 09:00 – 20:00;
25 and 26 December, 01 January and 06 January: 09:00 – 14:00.

Europe, Spain
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84 Comments »

  2. cuma satu kata kak Ndah : KEREN… so awesome post, blog, person. Feeling happy found this blog, i can see the world trough your blog :)) I’m waiting the picture from Italy 🙂 and Japan.. thumbs up for you

    • Makasih banget ya Eka 🙂 Aduuh aku belum pernah ke Jepang sayangnya 😦 moga-moga suatu saat nanti bisa ke sana.. Foto dari Itali nanti aku posting di sini pastinya 😉 Salam kenal dan terima kasih banyak atas kunjungannya..

  5. Wonderful photos, Indah. Well done on the close-ups, lots of clarity within them. There’s always some sort of mystery about unfinished artwork – how does it end, what does it really mean? Sure, sometimes it’s unfinished under circumstances you can’t control (e.g. finances) and sometimes it’s unfinished because the artist doesn’t want to finish it. Maybe it’s up to us to finish them in our heads 🙂

    • Well said Mabel! Gaudi had it finished – the concept, the design..the execution is just a matter of time. I admire the passionate in building such dream into reality that financially depends on the willingness of people. It’s an inspiring building, it may take hundreds years to finalize but what matter is the whole process of making a dream into reality!

      • “…execution is just a matter of time”. Spot on. Art is always a matter of time. You must really love it to keep going at it. Starting a piece of work is one thing, finishing it is another thing altogether. However, many have said that art can never be finished. We can always look back at our works and think of it in another way and re-do it…or use it as a springboard idea to create another 🙂

  7. Your images are so beautiful, Indah! I was about to write about Gaudi, but I don’t have any good images from Sagrada Familia anyway. I thought of using his other works, and I probably will do it next week, I have already resized the pictures. The sculptures look stunning and black and white. Isn’t it a magnificent construction? I hope somebody finishes it before it starts to deteriorate…

  8. Wow, I really like that you did those in b/w. It really brings out the details..or should I say, you good photography skills brought out such good details? Haha…:)