Sara Collantes: The Sagrada Familia (Barcelona)

“My client is not in a hurry”. That’s what Gaudí used to say when he was asked about the completion of the Sagrada Familia, the worldwide known cathedral of Barcelona and indeed the most important of his works.

La Pedrera

When Gaudí took charge of the project he was only 30. It was one of his first assignments and the largest no doubt. Antoni Gaudí was an extraordinary man, a deeply religious visionary, as well as a truly lover of nature. In fact, it is something easily noticeable in all of his works, such as El Capricho in Comillas, with thousands of sunflowers on its façade; Casa Milá, also known as La Pedrera, with sinuous and organic lines; or Casa Batlló, with its bone-shaped windows. His works were inspired by nature.

The construction of the Sagrada Familia stands on three main pillars: Firstly, original geometric shapes such as the parabolic arch or hyperboloid structures. Secondly, an organic, naturalistic style. And last but not the least important, religion.

The awesome main façade

The position of some of the structures like the entrances or domes is directly related to the holy hierarchy. The usual floor for Catholic churches is a Latin cross: the apsis or “head” faces east and the main entrance or “feet” faces west. Therefore, it has the same form as a human being, in this case Christ. The head would be the apse facing the east and also the holiest part of a church. Likewise, the feet would be the entrance and the profane place in a church. That is why the holy water is located in this place.

The cathedral on the inside

However, the Sagrada familia does not have this kind of plan. Gaudí planned the three different entrances on the basis of chapters of the Bible. As a result, the Nativity façade faces east, dawn that is; the Passion façade faces west, dusk, and the Glory façade, yet to be completed, will face south to the sea.

Numbers are absolutely necessary in the interpretation of religious architecture. They make plenty of references to the Bible in a Catholic church. When the Sagrada Familia is finished, it will have 18 towers, 12 of which will be thin 112-metre-high spires which symbolize the Apostles. There will be another 4 on each façade, eight of which are already standing. The ones on the Nativity façade are dedicated to Matthias, Jude, Simon and Barnabas while those on the Passion façade are dedicated to James, Thomas, Philip and Bartholomew. Over the apse there will be a 130-metre-high dome dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

It will also have four 135-metre-high towers dedicated to the Evangelists, which have a direct correspondence on the inside. There are four pillars which support a dome, each one symbolizing one Evangelist: Luke, a bull; Matthew, a winged man; John, an eagle and Mark, a lion.

John's pillar

That dome will be supported by these four pillars, which will be the highest of the whole 170-metre-high temple and dedicated, of course, to Christ.

Nowadays, both architects and art designers are working on the drawings Gaudí left, although it is not enough. They are using the latest software, such as one used by NASA engineers, to design fitting structures that support the weight and the height of the domes and spires. 

The Sagrada familia is being built thanks to the donations of thousands of people and institutions as well as to a percentage of entrance tickets. So it is worth paying the ticket so as to help complete the cathedral just the way Gaudí wanted.


Thanks a lot, Sara, this post is really enlightening ad you took some fantastic photos of the Cathedral. Now, you sent me two YouTube videos: the first shows what the Sagrada familia might look like when it's completed (who knows when!)

The second is an interesting interview (subtitled in English) with Professor Mark Burry, from RMIT University in Australia, which is helping with the completion of Gaudi's famous Basilica.

Surely many of you guys have been to Barcelona and would like to share your own views on the, to my mind, somewhat overambitious work being done to Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece.