La Sagrada Familia Analysis
La Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudí has made a momentous historical and cultural imprint on the city of Barcelona in Spain. After working on his ultimate masterpiece for 43 years, Gaudí died in 1926, leaving his unfinished monument to be fulfilled by future architects. Though the Basilica began its lengthy constructional history in 1882, it is to this day still in process of being completed. The Sagrada Familia Church was initially funded by the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of Saint Joseph, a group of distressed citizens that agree on the need for a new church devoted to the middle working class growing during an industrial expansion. Initially, the architect Francesc del Villar was commissioned to design the church but later resigned
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The complexity of his buildings often tend to strike its viewers as almost fragile, though his monuments seem to stand the ultimate test of time pretty well. As a viewer, I was first intrigued by the two main facades which seem to undoubtedly juxtapose each other. The Nativity Facade, which is the eastern transept that celebrates the birth of christ, is evidently contrasted by its opposite facade— the Passion Facade. The Passion Facade is more vertically driven and less ornate with long columns. The Nativity Facade however, is personified with “ornate sculptural treatments with a remarkable naturalistic efflorescence” ( Gaudi Unseen, 42). This intriguing approach to conveying altering emotions for different facades, strike me personally as unique. Another particular facet of this monument is its uncommon sense of nature created by men. The Lateral Nave that contains columns that intersect, blend so naturally together that I almost felt in a setting of constructed nature. “ The intersection of the columns appear as ‘ branches’ with the ceiling surface as a ‘forest canopy” (Gaudí unseen 50). In Gaudí Unseen, the authors also clearly felt a component of nature, though obviously manually built. In the Symbology of the Temple of the Sagrada Familia, Fargas and vivas support the Architect’s connection with nature in his work. The authors claim that “ the inspiration in nature was so intense and evident
The complexity of his buildings often tend to strike its viewers as almost fragile, though his monuments seem to stand the ultimate test of time pretty well. As a viewer, I was first intrigued by the two main facades which seem to undoubtedly juxtapose each other. The Nativity Facade, which is the eastern transept that celebrates the birth of christ, is evidently contrasted by its opposite facade— the Passion Facade. The Passion Facade is more vertically driven and less ornate with long columns. The Nativity Facade however, is personified with “ornate sculptural treatments with a remarkable naturalistic efflorescence” ( Gaudi Unseen, 42). This intriguing approach to conveying altering emotions for different facades, strike me personally as unique. Another particular facet of this monument is its uncommon sense of nature created by men. The Lateral Nave that contains columns that intersect, blend so naturally together that I almost felt in a setting of constructed nature. “ The intersection of the columns appear as ‘ branches’ with the ceiling surface as a ‘forest canopy” (Gaudí unseen 50). In Gaudí Unseen, the authors also clearly felt a component of nature, though obviously manually built. In the Symbology of the Temple of the Sagrada Familia, Fargas and vivas support the Architect’s connection with nature in his work. The authors claim that “ the inspiration in nature was so intense and evident