La Sagrada Familia

Hello Everyone................

For those of you that are art addicts, I am sure that you've heard of Antoni Gaudi. People that come to Barcelona will not leave without hearing about Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Antoni Gaudi. Anyways, moving along...........

Yesterday before I moved, I visited La Sagrada Familia which was a 5 minute walk from my apt. Amazing structure. Gaudi devoted 40 years of his life to this work of art, and the last 12 years of his life were devoted ONLY to this. He died in 1926 when he was hit by a tram.

I heard that when he died there was a debate about whether the temple should be left unfinished or built to how he would have wanted it. It is still being built.

He had drawings and plans of how he wanted the cathedral to look when its finished. Finishing Gaudi's designs resumed in the 1950s, and construction is still going on. So for those of you planning to visit, be prepared to put up with contruction for a very long time.

When I visited, I was charged money to get in. I later learned that the money is a donation to finishing the building.

I thought that going in would be a sacred experience. Instead it is more of a museum with a giftshop instead of a placed designed to worship God. I don't know Gaudi would feel about this. He devoted much of his life to this. He is actually buried there and there is a view of his burial site. Perhaps he is turning in his grave as this is all going on above him.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my visit and was simply amazed by the architecture. The walk up the stairs to the top of the temple was long, hot and crowed. (The elevator was broken) But it was all worth it. And you'll see the pictures I took to prove it. I would recommend that you click to make the pictures larger. I looks so much better that way.