Two Weeks in Spain - May 2014 - Architecture of Antoni Gaudi - La Sagrada Familia

Antoni Gaudi's church of the Holy Family, or La Sagrada Familia, is probably the most recognizable building in all of Barcelona. In fact, it's so big you can see it from almost anywhere in town it seems. Construction started on this church in 1882. Gaudi took over the project in 1883 and worked on it until his death in 1926. The church's website suggests that they might be finished "some time in the first third of the 21st Century". It is a bit weird touring a church that is not only in use but still very much under construction, with big sky cranes going and all the sounds of a construction site. From the outset it has been built solely from donations.

The outside of the church is very ornate but from a distance appears rather monochromatic.

Once inside, however, it's a whole different story. The interior is an overload of color and light.

This person, staring up at the ceiling, pretty much sums it up.

We took the elevator up one of the towers, them walked back down via a series of spiral staircases. Great views of the city from various little landings along the way.

Here's a pigeon's-eye view from about halfway down.

The upper part of the spiral stairway was enclosed between 2 stone walls with lots of openings. Since it's sometimes hard to judge the size of something when you can't see it next to something you recognize, in the next shot I've included an object of a known size - Heather's head - to help with the scale.

This is almost to the bottom of the lower stairway, which is somewhat narrower and very different in feel. Again, we have something for scale - in this case, part of Heather's shoe. Walking down this you really got the feeling that you could fall right through that hole in the middle all the way to the bottom. The lip on the inside of the spiral is only a few inches tall. This is actually over halfway down this section. As Phil Liggett, one of the commentators for the Tour de France would say, "Not for the nervous".

This church should be high on the list of things to see for anyone visiting Barcelona.

Click here to see a few more pictures from Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.