And More Gaudi... La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia is the last of the Gaudi turista sites that we visited in Barcelona. Gaudi was an extremely religious Catholic and personally oversaw the development of the church until his death in 1926; the church now houses his tomb. Today, 8 of the 12 towers have been completed. The centerpiece of the church, the 170 meter central dome, is one of the remaining 4 towers that still needs to be built.

On one facade there are carvings depicting the nativity, while the rear facade shows the passion. Once again, Gaudi's inspiration for much of the La Sagrada Familia architecture came from nature. The inside pillars were inspired by California redwood trees... you will see the way the tops of the pillars branch off from one another like tree limbs. Those are all the notes we have so if you want more information you'll have to look it up on http://www.wikipedia.com/.

This church features extremely detailed engravings and carvings all over the two facades and the pictures we post may not do it justice. This is definitely a site that you must see for yourself in person to fully appreciate.

Here's some pics...

From atop Park Guell, almost halfway across the city of Barcelona, you can see the sheer size of La Sagrada Familia. It makes the buildings around it look tiny!


The engravings on the front facade...


This one is the Three Kings... shout to Web's Three King Brothers on the East Coast...


Peep the massive bronze door behind the statue...

Amazing details on 1 of the 4 bronze doors...

More statues...

Gaudi's workshop... the plaster molds allow today's architects to continue executing Gaudi's vision years after his death...

Supporting pillars inspired by California redwoods...

The tops represent tree limbs branching off from one another...

We traveled to the top of one of the smaller, 60m towers...

Amazing views from one of the lookout points in the tower...

We made it to the top! Note the tops of the pillars behind us. They are capped with Murano glass imported from Italy... in the shape of bunches of fruit (note: you can click on the pics to make them bigger)!

The facade from the steps in front of the church...