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Sagrada Famíliathe architecture of Antoni Gaudí |
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the Sagrada Família and Antoni Gaudí Barcelona and its art a climber’s race - La Vuelta a Espana 2011 Vuelta a Espana, 2010 - an eco-tour
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sagrada’s construction history admission charges and information accessing the towers handicapped access background facts end notes the basilica of the Sagrada Família
Sagrada Família is Catalan for Holy Family. Josep Maria Bocabella i Verdaguer was a devout and cultivated bookseller, who in 1866 had founded the Spiritual Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph to promote christianity, which he felt was declining in an increasingly secular society. This project of an expiatory church is based around a silver plaque of the Holy Family given to Bocabella by the then pope during a visit to Rome in 1872. With a limited budget, eventually he bought 12,800 m² of land in Barcelona, paying 172,000 pesetas (now valued at 1.034 €). sagrada’s construction historyBocabella chose F. Villar i Lozano as architect, who intended to build a conventional neo-gothic cathedral, using expensive cut-stone pillars. Villar was soon replaced after arguments about costs. Gaudí was the replacement architect from 1883. Having replaced the pillars with cheaper masonry ones, he proceeded to redesign the whole project as a grandiose building in a Latin cross shape.
Gaudí realised that the building would take more than a generation to complete, so he worked to leave a vigorous sample of the building to come, that future generations will be encouraged to continue the work, and to which the rest of the œuvre can be added. Following that reasoning, Gaudí, while he finished the crypt, started the construction of the apse, and then the Nativity facade.
Only the crypt, apse and part of the Nativity facade were completed during Gaudí’s life. After Gaudi’s death in 1926, construction was continued by his assistant Domènec Sugrañes. Since then, various architects have continued the work. From 1987, Jordi Bonet i Armengol assumed responsibility. In 2005: Since 2005: Sculptural artists include Llorenç and Joan Matamala, Carles Mani, Jaume Busquets, Joaquim Ros i Bofarull, Etsuro Sotoo and Josep Maria Subirachs (for the Passion facade). Today construction continues with modern building materials that, according to some, Gaudí did not want to use. Thus, when you visit the basilica, you will see the colour of the stone on one facade is not the same as that of the opposite facade. The style also seems very different from one facade to another. Because construction still continues, some areas of the building may be inaccessible, however much of the interior is now completed.
On the approaches to the Sagrada Familia, particularly near the principal entrance, you will see many technicolour statues. Except... they aren’t! Here is a local trade - living statues, often of suitably religious personages, like this Jesus on the right. Tourists will pay the statues to be part of a photograph.
admission charges and informationYou have to pay to enter the Sagrada perimeter, and tickets to mount the towers are available from guides inside. With the entrance ticket you can visit the Facade of the Nativity and the Facade of the Passion, the central nave, the cloister and portal of Roser. You may also see the museum with the model polifuniculaire, the Colonia Güell, Gaudí's original drawings and scale models of the church. |
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Also, there are the school furnishings and temporary exhibitions. Allow at least two hours for a visit. 13.00 € Adult accessing the towersSo far, eight out of the eighteen towers have been built
at La Sagrada Família, four on each side facade.
The facades are not connected and so have independent
entrances. The towers can only be visited by lift, there
being one on each facade. Tickets, time-stamped to avoid
large queues, can be purchased at the ticket office. For safety, in the event of adverse weather conditions (strong wind or rain) the lifts to the towers may be closed. For security reasons, children younger than 6 years old are not allowed to go up to the towers, while those under 14 years old should be accompanied by an adult.
handicapped accessAlthough the main access to the nave is by steps that rise 4 metres from the road, there is also a slope for wheelchairs by both the Nativity and the Passion facades. There are wheelchairs available, to use one, ask at the Information Point. The non-able are not able to go any further as “People with reduced mobility or a wheelchair are not allowed” into the towers. There are narrow, steep, one-way, stone spiral staircases up into the towers, and down again. |
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