Sagrada Familia

We finished the walking tour in front of the Sagrada Familia. Here is a view from across the pond that shows the whole church and construction. 

Then, we headed with our tour guide to a restaurant to eat before going into the church. Again, the restaurant was very inexpensive and they gave us an unbelievable amount of food that I could hardly finish. This was our starter, a choice of four tapas. It was pretty much a meal in itself.

We had to go up to the front of the restaurant at the bar to get the tapas. There were so many choices that I almost didn't make it back to the table.

Afterwards, we parted ways with our guide and went into the cathedral. I was blown away by the detail on the facade.

The front side of the cathedral faces the east and contains the story of Jesus' birth and childhood.  Gaudi planned this so that the sun would rise on Christ's birth.

On the western side, Gaudi planned to depict the death of Jesus, which matches with the setting sun. He died before he could achieve this, so another architect has been working on this part. You can tell that the style is different here, more simple and angular.

The square on the wall is arranged so that every horizontal, vertical and diagonal row adds up to 33, the age of Jesus at his death.

Once inside the cathedral, we learned that the pillars are supposed to represent trees. Gaudi was very influence by nature in his design. He believed that the harsh, straight lines of modern architecture are unnatural and wanted to take his inspiration from, nature, God's art. 

The ceiling is supposed to look like the leafy top of a forest and the holes represent light filtering through.

One of the things that Gaudi paid a lot of attention to in his architecture was the balance of light in the final product. He believed that too much light as well as too little light blinds a person. In his Sagrada Familia, he strove to create the perfect balance of light to promote an environment of spirituality. 

When I saw these beautiful stained glass windows I was amazed and realized that he really meant what he said. It was the perfect balance of light to make the windows look gorgeous and brilliant like precious stones.

As you can see from this model, the four imposing spires on the Sagrada Familia are far from what Gaudi planned. When completed, the church will have a central tower that is almost twice as tall!

Gaudi even planned detail in the entrance on the floor. This is a depiction of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem before his death.

Around the outside Gaudi created a cloister-type area. The detail inside was nearly as impressive as the outside.