La Sagrada Familia
I know, I know. Not the most exciting title, and if you’re still reading then I’m sorry because I’m not talking about a new block of fashionable high-rise flats. In fact, I’m talking about La Sagrada Familia, made famous by snow globes and fridge magnets (begs the question, how often did new snow globes and fridge magnets get made every time LSF progressed in its construction?). La Sagrada Familia is arguably Barcelona’s most iconic landmark, alongside Gaudí’s other feats of architecture: Park Güell and the aptly named Gaudí House. Some may be unaware that the landmark is actually was under construction for 144 years, making it the world’s oldest construction project. This is literally longer than sliced bread has been around (94 years if you’re curious). In fact, one could say the delay is biblical in its length!
I’ve visited the landmark twice in my life: the summer of 2016 and January 2022. These visits were wildly different. I found it to be one of the most memorable religious buildings I’ve ever seen. For example, the Guildford Cathedral – it’s close to where I live and I see it often, they even filmed The Omen there, but you couldn’t pick that cathedral out of a line-up compared to La Sagrada Familia. It looks like a mass of lots of different buildings clumped together (in a good way), and that’s because it is. It has been built section by section, meaning each one has a slightly different theme and even look just based on how new the materials look.
Interestingly, despite being a religious building, the structure does not invoke any feelings of religion within me, its records notwithstanding (it’s the tallest church in the world). While this may partly boil down to my lack of religious beliefs (I’m not entirely averse to religions. In fact, I take a genuine interest in religions across the world). I think the problem is that La Sagrada Familia is too commercialised. A place packed with tourists, street vendors selling novelty items on the floor and an abundance of postcards, fridge magnets and other knickknacks depicting it loses its symbolism. Rather than a symbol of religion, it becomes a tourist symbol meant to generate money, acting more like Big Ben in London rather than a place of worship. This is where Christianity as a brand is clearly visible. The atmosphere, I dare say, not too different from the Second Temple in Jerusalem on the eve of Jesus’ banishment of the money changers.
This isn’t to necessarily say that one can’t find religion here, I suppose that comes down to an individual’s strength of faith. I make the comparison of tourism vs religion because recently I travelled to Île Saint-Honorat in the Côte d’Azur. This is also a tourist hotspot, but with a caveat – there is an active monastery still used by monks on the island, Lérins Abbey. In order to respect the monks, tourists are encouraged to dress appropriately, keep noise down and stick to designated tourist areas. There is only one gift shop on the island and this sells goods produced by the Abbey, such as soaps, jams and wines. It’s difficult not to get swept up in the atmosphere and exploring the island becomes a meditative experience. This marks the key difference in why I think I struggled to feel any sensation of religion at La Sagrada Familia, the way tourism is handled.
Whereas my first visit was spent shoulder to shoulder in a sea of tourists just trying to catch a glimpse of La Sagrada Familia, my second visit was much more open and relaxing. As it was winter and the tail-end of a pandemic, that sea was more of a puddle. It’s a great time to visit the landmark as you have slightly more freedom to explore, however that was not why I returned. In December 2021 a huge star was secured to the top of the tower of the Virgin Mary. This has actually transformed how La Sagrada Familia appears at night. Although it was always draped in a warm yellow glow, it is now crowned with a bright blue beacon pinpointing La Sagrada Familia’s exact location. It guides religious believers to the site not unlike to how the star guided the three wise men to the Jesus’ birthplace. You know, to the Virgin Mary? And this star guides to the tower of the Virgin Mary? It may be on the nose but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that maybe La Sagrada Familia isn’t trying to be subtle. I mean, it’s effective enough that even I caught on and it allows those seeking religion to live out the biblical story in some form, likely strengthening their faith as they feel closer to the events.
However, this recent addition to La Sagrada Familia got me wondering, on my most recent viit, why the construction took so long. I decided to go have a look at the new addition and research the reasons why La Sagrada Familia continued to be affected by delays.
The issue isn’t that they had to wait five years to import exotic materials because Gaudí was being too particular (although this is sort of why the first architect was fired). There were just continual setbacks, none of which were really the fault of construction or design, rather just unlucky global circumstances. I’ve broken the history of La Sagrada Familia into these mishaps to catch you up to speed on Barcelona’s most iconic landmark.
Origins of La Sagrada Familia
Before digging into the setbacks delaying the project, it’s necessary to get the background on how and why the project was conceived in the first place. A bookseller by the name of Josep Maria Bocabella had the idea for La Sagrada Familia when he went on a trip to the Vatican in 1872, being inspired to campaign for a new basilica. I’m surprised psychoanalysts, or those of a zealous bent, haven’t labelled this fervour, right up there with the Jerusalem Syndrome and the Damascene Conversion. While originally described as a church, La Sagrada Familia is now recognised as a basilica so I’ll use this terminology and quickly outline the difference: there are two type of basilica, basilica major and basilica minor. Basilica majors are the pope’s personal churches in and around Rome, and basilica minors are found around the world having been appointed the status of basilica by the pope. Given its location in Barcelona, I’m willing to bet La Sagrada Familia falls into the ‘minor’ category. Back to Bocabella, after purchasing the land it’s now built on he decided his basilica was going to be the largest in Europe. This flags an obvious factor in delaying the construction of La Sagrada Familia: the magnitude of the project. From the outset it was clear that it would take some time; the architect Antoni Gaudí had even acknowledged that it would still be under construction after his death, although it was said he wanted to complete the front of La Sagrada Familia so that current workers could see the fruits of the labour and future workers would be inspired to take up the torch. This suggests that maybe he took on the project out of genuine passion rather than ego or monetary compensation. Of course, with any project of this size, a significant amount of funding was needed and events such as the Spanish Civil War meant that sourcing this finance was not always easy as the construction largely relied on donations from the people of Barcelona. This is still the case to this day, though alongside private donations the revenue from ticket sales into La Sagrada Familia is also used to fund the project. While that may be explanation enough for the duration of La Sagrada Familia’s construction, this point is dull and I probably wouldn’t get paid for an article this short, so I’ll dive into the setbacks preventing the completion of La Sagrada Familia.
Mishap 1: Wrong man for the job
Bocabella campaigned for eight years to have the basilica constructed on land that he purchased for the building, showing that it (understandably) took a while to get the project off the ground. The original architect for the basilica was actually Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano, who presented a design that differed from the one we see today. He planned a more gothic basilica and the foundation for the crypt of this design was constructed. Del Villar eventually stepped down from the project due to disagreements with Bocabella. Del Villar’s original plans for solid stone pillars were deemed too expensive by Bocabella and his advisor Joan Martorell, leading to his departure and to Antoni Gaudí’s arrival in 1883. This led to a complete overhaul to the proposed design of the basilica, slowing the construction which had already begun. Gaudí also increased the magnitude of the project compared to the original plan, further adding to the planned construction time.
Mishap 2: Gaudí’s death
At this point things were fairly smooth sailing, and the construction of the basilica went ahead for forty three years without incident. This period was broken by Gaudí’s death in 1926. Gaudí had been on his way to his daily confession session (fun to say) when he was fatally hit by a tram. Those who believe in the supernatural, or fans of horror films like The Omen, will probably see this as a sign of dark, malevolent forces impeding the work of God! I completely understand how this could have happened because crossing the road in Barcelona can be lethal at times. One specific road that comes to mind is the Avinguda Diagonal, because in order to cross it you need to traverse two roads, two bicycle lanes, and two sets of tram tracks. It essentially boils down to a real-life game of Frogger if you decide not to cross at traffic lights, and even then neither trams nor bicycles stop at the light. In the aftermath of Gaudí’s death, Domingo Sugrañes took over the progress. While Sugrañes didn’t change Gaudí’s original plans, they soon became quite difficult to follow, the reason for which you’ll discover in the next section. Despite Sugrañes taking over, Gaudí’s premature death led to a disruption to progress for over ten years. This leads us to the next mishap delaying La Sagrada Familia.
Mishap 3: The Spanish Civil War
While maybe I shouldn’t refer to The Spanish Civil War as a ‘mishap’, the war broke out in 1936 and lasted until 1939. In short, generals from the Spanish Republican Armed Forces formed the Nationalists and raised an insurrection against the Republican government. The Nationalists won the war and General Francisco Franco ruled until his death in 1975. The idea that a war in Barcelona could halt the construction of La Sagrada Familia is not farfetched, but the basilica was specifically impacted in a couple of ways. Gaudí’s office was broken into and ransacked by FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica) anarchists. This led to many models and plans being destroyed. As mentioned previously, Gaudí was aware that the construction of the basilica would outlast his own life. In order for his vision and ideas to be clear posthumously, Gaudí created painstakingly detailed models and plans. The loss of these ten years after his death would have muddied his vision for future architects taking the helm. In addition to this, the crypt was attacked and badly damaged by the anarchists, which resulted in setbacks since repairs to what was already completed would need to be undertaken. George Orwell, who considered La Sagrada Familia to be ugly, later wittily remarked that the anarchists had poor taste for “not blowing it up when they had the chance”[1]. Whether or not you believe it is ugly is a matter of personal preference I suppose. Personally, I think it’s one of the most fascinating buildings I’ve ever seen but then again my architectural expertise goes no further than what I can build with Lego. Alongside the damage to the building, around 12 of the people who were working on the construction of the basilica were killed in the war. The Spanish Civil War impacted the construction as it not only halted, but set back the progress of the project.
[1] Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell
Mishap 4: Failing to secure a leader
Following the War construction resumed, but this was a slow period for La Sagrada Familia’s development. Many architects joined and left the project. The first to join was Francesc de Paula Quintana in 1939. Taking over from Sugrañes, Francesc initially spent his time working on the cathedral by restoring the crypt and the models destroyed in the War. After this, Francesc was responsible for the start of the Façade of Passion alongside Isidre Puig i Boada and Lluís Bonet iGarí. Isidre and Lluís took over from Francesc when he passed in 1966 and they continued construction of the Façade of Passion until 1983.Francesc Cardoneri Blanch directed the construction only for a couple years until Jordi Bonet I Armengol took over in 1985. To this day it is maintained that Gaudí’s plans are being adhered to, however when you consider the merry-go-round of architects, coupled with the loss of Gaudí’s plans during the civil war, one can only wonder if any improvisations were made.
I just threw a lot of dates and names at you and for that I’m sorry. I did it because it demonstrates the head dizzying lack of continuity that the project experienced at this time. Constantly switching directors at seemingly random intervals likely slowed progress, compounded by frequent adjustment periods and a lack of direction. The opinion of onlookers was important because Gaudí had insisted that the funding of the basilica was to be done by the Catholic community in Spain. The project did suffer from funding issues during this period which suggests faith in the project was waning.
Mishap 5: Planes, Trains and… Pandemics
Following this slow period, the next speed-bump in the road to completing La Sagrada Familia came when the city proposed a high speed trainline directly under the basilica. This understandably raised concerns that the line would impact the structural integrity of the basilica too much, leading to a six year campaign against the trainline. Talking about this trainline reminds me of one particular time I was taking the underground in Barcelona. I’d just entered the train as it pulled into the station and sat down next to the window looking out onto the other platform. Myself and the other passengers watched as a woman on the other platform was mugged and a guy in a hoodie ran off with her bag. Events like these would be another reason why a high-speed trainline under the basilica would be unwanted in such a religious location. Disturbances may impact services being held or guests travelling to La Sagrada Familia. Despite this, it also acts as a reminder to stay safe and aware when using public transport in any city.
The high speed trainline was made active in 2013, as the campaign to prevent the line was unsuccessful. The construction of the trainline interfered with the construction of the basilica, not to mention the time spent on a six-year failed campaign. Despite this a date for the completion of the basilica was finally set: 2026, 144 years after it began. The issue is La Sagrada Familia had been under construction for so long that the original parts already completed now had to be restored too. This makes me chuckle but I imagine it would be incredibly frustrating for the team working on it whose workload had begun to double.
I’m sure we can all guess what happened next – COVID19. The outbreak halted progress on La Sagrada Familia for the first time since the Spanish Civil War. Progress has resumed, as demonstrated by the addition of the star last month, but it is clear La Sagrada Familia will not meet the original 2026 deadline. There has been no new deadline offered but the central spire still remains to be completed.
Nearly complete (both the article and the basilica)
So, it’s safe to say La Sagrada Familia has had a fairly tough lifetime. The production has suffered roadblocks as simple as funding and scale, and more significant roadblocks such as wars or pandemics. Referring to these events as ‘mishaps’ may seem slightly insensitive but truthfully it is more of a method of keeping the topic light-hearted. I’ve touched on many world events with a lot of loss of life, the accidental deaths of famous figures and muggings of the average people on the street. Through all this it’s easy to ask why we don’t just say ‘oh forget it, we’ve done enough, it looks alright now doesn’t it? Rather than that, progress has persevered. I like to think this am affirming representation of the human spirit – through wars and pandemics we continue to strive to create art and symbols which for many would provide hope and comfort. Was that cheesy enough?
