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The Sagrada Família takes its final shape
- pseudolus 1y agohttps://archive.ph/qTTbE https://archive.ph/qTTbE
- lproven 1y agoCame here to post this. Thanks.
- touristtrap 1y ago[flagged]
- thw_9a83c 1y ago> ugly and already outdated I'm not sure about "ugly," but it's certainly no more outdated than most places in Europe, and tourists will continue to flood in regardless. No one will miss to visit the Sagrada Família for sure.
- touristtrap 1y ago[flagged]
- arduanika 1y agoI'm sad that you got flagged for expressing your aesthetic opinion, but I think it's a beautiful achievement.
- wkat4242 1y agoIt's more the tourists go home thing I think. I agree the tourism is a bit much at times but I don't blame the tourists. We're all tourists somewhere at one point. I'm very happy Barcelona is revoking all the AirBnB licenses though.
- arduanika 1y agoAgain, the flagged post was expressing a valid opinion. I don't own the right to visit anybody else's city. Europe is not our museum. People live there, and get to decide what kind of city they want. I'd be personally sad to never visit Barcelona again, as I did one time decades ago, and see the completed cathedral. But this poster is not obligated to like it, or to welcome me.
- pretzellogician 1y agoI visited it last year for the first time. Indescribably stunning, I can't recommend it enough.
- __loam 1y agoThis is one of the most magnificent buildings I've seen in my life and everyone should go see it even if you're not religious. It's incredible the vision the architect had over 100 years ago.
- greyb 1y ago>This is one of the most magnificent buildings I've seen in my life and everyone should go see it even if you're not religious. On the flipside, I remember thinking it was a kitsch architectural icon and my family was bullying me into going to visit by dictating my plans while solo traveling. When I went inside, I had a brief moment where I was struck by awe, and wondered if I should consider converting to Catholicism.
- __loam 1y agoIt's astoundingly beautiful.
- lo_zamoyski 1y ago> wondered if I should consider converting to Catholicism You’re not alone. This is one very conscious motivation for the beauty of Catholic art (not the only motive, but a very real one). Beauty is intelligible and leads the mind upward, toward its ultimate source. Beauty is understood as a transcendental, along with the good, the true, and unity, which is to say, being understood from different perspectives. In other words, beauty has been an instrument for leading people toward conversion for a long time. There’s even the term “apostolate of beauty” [0]. [0] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=1423 https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?rec...
- hunglee2 1y agoI can't help but feel Warhammer 40K vibes when looking at this thing. It's a monstrosity, directly from the Warp
- javier2 1y agoIm not that interested in architecture, but this was stunning. Such immense vision from original the architect.
- juancn 1y agoIt gives me hope that sometimes, mankind can take a long term project. Even with warts and all.
- brandall10 1y agoTo be fair, many cathedrals in the past took well over 100 years to build (ie. Notre Dame @ 182 years), and it wasn't an unusual idea at the time construction started that it could take this long. Of course one would think modern methods would have sped things up considerably, but it wasn't until the advent of technologies this century that things really progressed.
- aidenn0 1y agoI think you meant the 20th century?
- brandall10 1y agoNo, this century. The majority of the building was built over the past 25 years. The last 15 years in particular have been a speed run to finish it.
- aidenn0 1y agoOh, I misunderstood you to be talking about building large buildings in general, not this basilica in particular.
- stubish 1y agoI think many cathedrals like Notre Dame were completed several times. It was 182 years from construction until the last addition was finished. Whereas Sagrada Familia is only now just completing its original design. When I first saw the structure, there was no central tower and no plans to actually build it. But you could see it in the plans in the museum there.
- trevor-e 1y agoAs others have said the Sagrada Familia is incredible and I had high expectations given all the controversy around it. I've visited many historic churches during my travels and it's my favorite one. Really neat to see it reach this stage.
- 3abiton 1y ago99% invisible made an amazing episode on this nearly 10 years ago. The story of gaudi, how he died, how the plans of the church were destroyed, and how they're reconstructing the architecture. All that aside, the cathedral is mind blowing.
- MisterTea 1y agoI visited last month and it is incredibly stunning to see in person. The amazing amount of detail on the facade carvings along with the organic design is something I have not seen on any building. There is what appears to be a Christmas tree topping the front facade. My only regret is not going inside as it was waaaay too hot to stand in line for hours to get inside. Though I walked around it taking pictures.
- jnsie 1y agoYou missed out. The stained glass windows are absolutely stunning. I normally don't get too excited about stained glass, but they are truly beautiful as is much of the interior.
- tgv 1y agoBest time to visit Spain is roughly april/may and september/october, although that may not be true for the Atlantic coast.
- mejutoco 1y agoIf you book a slot on the website they are given in 15 minutes intervals. Last time I was there everything worked very smoothly.
- koobz 1y agoVisited Barcelona a decade ago to see this. It's awesome. I often think calling it "kitsch" is some sort of unfortunate linguistic quirk because Antonio Gaudi's name evokes "gaudy." The thing is a celebration of creation, inventiveness, and natural beauty. Maybe even playfulness - though being a catholic building there's some requisite "death" mixed in: I guess the full spectrum of life is lurking in there.
- lubujackson 1y agoAn element of Gaudi's work I didn't appreciate until I was in Barcelona is the usage of biological structures in his architecture. You can see somewhat in the image looking at the ceiling, but the columns really do evoke the sense of being in a forest of pure white, towering trees with the ceiling as its canopy.
- yupitsme123 1y agoThis ties in with the Art Nouveau movement which he was a part of. If you look at paintings and other architecture from the time period, there are lots of references to nature and "organic" shapes.
- Earw0rm 1y agoThe Passion Facade, marking Christ's crucifixion and death, resembles a skull; the Nativity facade is an, ah, biological representation of birth.
- stavros 1y agoEh, I thought I made a pretty good joke when someone said "the sagrada familia is pretty gaudy" and I said "it's pronounced 'Gaudí'".
- hansjorg 1y agoI kind of envy those who can so easily dismiss something like SF. Just try to imagine what they must have experienced to become so blasé.
- tgv 1y ago
- gigatexal 1y agoIt’s such an awesome cathedral. It’s def worth going just for this. Go. Spend a few hours just taking it all in. It’s amazing.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoIt’s not a cathedral, it’s a basilica. Barcelona’s cathedral is Santa Eulalia.
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoThat’s right, though a cathedral can also be a basilica (like the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey).
- wkat4242 1y agoI wonder if the bishop will move to the Sagrada when it's finished though?
- gigatexal 1y agoI’m a stupid American. Thank you for the correction. I just think all such buildings are “cathedrals”.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoNah, just one thing I happened to know and you didn’t - nothing wrong with that. https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
- danso 1y agoVisited this a few months ago, somehow having never heard of it as an American (in the way that I learned about Notre Dame and St. Peter’s and Westminster Abbey) and it surpassed the hype far more than any European famous attraction I’ve ever been to. I first glimpsed it while doing a touristy bike tour my first day in Barcelona and it’s hard to convey how surreal it is, like a video game’s final level glitching into its tutorial stage.
- boppo1 1y agoLots of experience with video games glitching, but not sure how your analogy applies here. Can you elaborate some more?
- Tempat1 1y agoNot the person you’re replying to, but I’m sure they mean something like, imagine the tutorial level in a normal town, but the boss’s final lair from the Catholic moon has glitched into the middle of the tutorial town.
- mensetmanusman 1y agoYes, like on the old Final Fantasy Super Nintendo games.
- Insanity 1y agoThe Sagrada Familia is pretty well known, but I just want to put a plug here for some other buildings by Gaudi you can go see: https://www.barcelona-life.com/barcelona/gaudi https://www.barcelona-life.com/barcelona/gaudi That said, if on limited time, definitely see the Sagrada Familia. It was one of my favourite tourist sites in Spain, even beyond just Barcelona.
- oliyoung 1y agoYes! Parc Guell https://parkguell.barcelona/ https://parkguell.barcelona/ and La Padera https://www.lapedrera.com/en https://www.lapedrera.com/en are must sees for Gaudi
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoDon't forget casa Batlló - visits are by appointment only (I think) but even just seeing the building’s exterior is pretty awesome.
- wkat4242 1y agoNo you can just book a ticket like with all the others. Always buy a ticket online. Otherwise you'll be stuck in a queue. The Sagrada stopped doing on the spot visits because the queue was getting too long and Battló did as well. Only at la pedrera (or casa Milà as it's really called) can you still buy a ticket on site. But I wouldn't. You're just wasting your time waiting while all the prebooks go ahead of you. Battló is the best one for me by far. I love the organic shapes and the light well and the soft wood etc. Wow
- varjag 1y agoMore important, in the nearly hundred and fifty years it has taken for the church to assume its final form, Gaudí’s once revolutionary aesthetic no longer looks futuristic. Early critics of the Sagrada Família accused Gaudí of being too over the top, but his commitment to visual abundance has become a universal aspect of pop culture—think of the ornate C.G.I. cityscapes in “Black Panther” or the “Star Wars” films. I was never into architecture and am not a religious person but visiting the Sagrada Familia was profound. I came out a slightly different man than one who walked into it just half an hour before. No CGI hack comes close.
- changoplatanero 1y agoGaudi wanted it to be a monument to Christ but it ended up as a monument to Gaudi.
- WJW 1y agoThis makes me wonder if, 7 centuries ago, people thought the same about the designer of the Notre Dame.
- BurningFrog 1y agoI humorlessly looked it up, and it was a 200 year project with several people making major contributions, not a single mastermind.
- TheOtherHobbes 1y agoSo - in the end - was Sagrada Familia. Much of the design is Gaudi-inspired rather than Gaudi-in-person. If would likely be even frillier, more colourful, and more organic if Gaudi had seen it all the way through. It's still one of the modern wonders of the world.
- bobthepanda 1y agoMost cathedrals and monuments are like that because until recently in human history, they took a long time to build and so the original architect would die, the financing might collapse, etc. Heck, this happened to Gaudi; the remarkable thing here is that the people after Gaudi wanted to continue his vision as much as they could. The Washington Monument in DC, for example, famously is different colors because they had to change the source of marble during construction when funding halted for a time.
- touristtrap 1y ago[flagged]
- cogogo 1y agoNever had a worse personal anxiety experience than visiting it 15 yrs ago with my nephews who were 4 and 5yrs old. At the time you could go up elevators on the side of the new facade but you had to walk down spiral staircases on the old side. Those staircases have a huge open circle all the way down to the bottom. I was so worried for those kids. First time I had experienced anything close to parental fear. My brother and my sister in-law on the other hand never seemed phased. That said. Dying to go back. So much progress has been made since then.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- cogogo 1y agoMy father just emailed me this article. Scanned from the physical magazine into an unreadable PDF. Classic.
- dwd 1y agoVisited it in 1984, and it has come a long way since then. I don't think it had a roof at the time. Have to go back to see the inside which looks amazing.
- huflungdung 1y ago[dead]
- roughly 1y agoI'd echo everyone else on how awe-inspiring this building is. One thing that's particularly interesting is that, while the outside is extremely cluttered and ornate, the inside is almost spare by comparison, and achieves a level of immersive awe that I've never experienced before. In that sense, the building is almost too successful - a church is meant to glorify God, but there's no disentangling the Sagrada from Gaudi. You cannot stand in the building and not feel a sense of awe for the mind that created this, and the building is far, far too famous to ever be a servicing church. It was such an interesting contradiction of an achievement - it's such an incredible artistic accomplishment and so successful in its intent to inspire and as an act of devotion that you just cannot look past the finger to see the moon. The artist eclipses the subject. (As an aside, Orwell makes mention of the Sagrada Familia in Homage to Catalonia, and it's an incredible paragraph: "For the first time since I had been in Barcelona I went to have a look at the cathedral – a modern cathedral, and one of the most hideous buildings in the world... Unlike most of the churches in Barcelona it was not damaged during the revolution – it was spared because of its ‘artistic value’, people said. I think the Anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance.")
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoFYI it isn’t a cathedral. A cathedral is not a type of building, but the seat of the bishop (“cathedra” meaning “seat”). It is a common misconception that a cathedral is a grand church, since many cathedrals are, in fact, grand. Check out the Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau, Alaska to see a modest example. Sagrada Família is, however, a basilica which is a title of honor bestowed on churches by the pope.
- mindwok 1y agoThe Sagrada Família gives me a kind of weird optimism and hope for technology and what it could be. I went to Europe for the first time this year, and I remember repeatedly thinking as I saw buildings like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Duomo in Florence, how sad it is that humanity doesn't build beautiful things anymore (fair enough when they take like 200 years). Then you see this, a church over 100 years in the making, finally being realised in the last ~10 years because innovations in stone cutting have made these intricate designs more feasible and progress has rapidly improved. It's awesome.
- zrobotics 1y agoI'd say we've stopped making these types of grand monuments, but that's been relatively recent. Think of things like the Chrysler building or the Empire State building, they have tons of unnecessary ornamentation and are still very impressive structures. But art deco architecture is kinda the last period I can think of where that was the case, although I'm definitely not an architecture expert. If there are more modern examples, please link them since I would love to be proved mistaken here.
- goshx 1y agoWe have plenty of modern monuments, but they are different. Adding to your NYC examples, I see Little Island and the Vessel as monuments of their own leagues.
- rjh29 1y agoMaybe something like Marina Bay Sands in Singapore (2010), fairly iconic outline.
- patrickk 1y ago> they have tons of unnecessary ornamentation That's in the eye of the beholder. Pertinent HN article + discussion, which I love to revisit every once and a while, even though I do not work in anything related to architecture. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23582942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23582942 The fact that so many people from all over the world are drawn to older architecture with "tons of unnecessary ornamentation" makes you think where we went wrong in recent decades.
- jfengel 1y agoI was transferring through Barcelona and I didn't intend to spend any time there, so I had done absolutely no research on it. But the connection was late so we were put on a bus tour of the city, starting with the mountains outside it. The bus let us out at an overlook with a view of the city, which looked more or less like any other far off city. And then... what the holy hell was that Thing dominating the skyline? It didn't even look real. I had to refocus my eyes just to be able to actually see it. I never did get to go inside, but we drove past, and the driver explained the history of Sagrada Familia. As bizarre as it was from a distance it's even weirder up close. It looks like something by HR Giger. I dare not imagine what's inside. I will have to go some day.
- trhway 1y agoit is somewhat sad that we don't start right now any immense scale project requiring decades of construction. With today and tomorrow tech we could possibly build say hundred kilometer long several kilometer high space launch rail gun or something like this.
- jonas21 1y agoI mean there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia No matter what you think of it, you can't say it's not an immense-scale project requiring decades of construction.
- charlieflowers 1y agoI just got back from a family vacation there. I was tired that day, it was hot and crowded, and I started thinking, "I wonder if this will be worth it." I found myself astounded, struck speechless, and moved to tears. I was in awe. Gaudi is someone we software engineers should revere. He made things precisely and powerfully functional while also making them beautiful. Do not miss seeing Sagrada Familia if you ever get the chance.
- mogoman 1y agoFully agree. Walking towards the address I came around a corner and my jaw dropped. Still get goosebumps thinking of that moment. Sadly inside was a construction site with no lighting (this was around 2003), would love to go back and see it again.
- BurningFrog 1y agoThe amazing thing with this church and Barcelona is not the genius of Gaudi. It's that the city of Barcelona happily let him build his gloriously insane buildings all across town, and on top of that get free reign over the ginormous cathedral project! Having lived in San Francisco, it seems absolutely unreal...
- mejutoco 1y agoI am going to be that guy and say that Sagrada Familia is not a cathedral. In case anybody is interested. But Barcelona has a neo-gothic cathedral you can visit too in the city center.
- MengerSponge 1y agoThis guy's 100% right: It's a basilica. A church has to be the seat of a bishop to be a cathedral. Americans also often refer to Sacré-Coeur in Paris as a cathedral, but it too is just a lovely basilica.
- lproven 1y agoI'm sure you're right but to people not in the religion, this is a non-difference. "This is the home of a 47th level battle mage, and so it is important to call it a fortress or an enchanter's fortified tower. Only if he graduates to level 50 or above does it become a full Keep." (As a side note, the battle mage is actually a 300kg dude called Kevin who lives in a bedsit his mum pays for.)
- MengerSponge 1y agoBruh, I'm not in the religion. I'm a fan of existing and moving through the world, so I find it helpful to understand the human structures of power that influence that world. Bishops are political appointees, with power over a region roughly between a US House Rep and a Senator. You can use whatever words you like, but people are similarly free to judge you for your ignorance. Willfulness doesn't change its fundamental nature.
- mensetmanusman 1y agoIf you haven’t: you must visit.
- georgelyon 1y agoGaudi is among the best engineers and artists who ever lived, and I won’t belabor his greatness. It is cool though that Rhino (https://www.rhino3d.com/ https://www.rhino3d.com/) got a shout out in this article, it is a similar blend of engineering and artistic excellence that I’ve only dabbled in briefly, but repeatedly pops up in the toolkits of the most interesting engineer-artists. One of my personal favorites is John Edmark who among other cool things made these shutter-synced 3D sculptures that are absolutely amazing: https://www.johnedmark.com/phifib/#itemId=572301305559869e244bfc9d https://www.johnedmark.com/phifib/#itemId=572301305559869e24...
- maxbond 1y agoVery cool. I think if you squint this is sort of like a 4D moire. You have a repeating 3D structure which you're looking at through a "grid" in time, causing aliasing.
- MoreQARespect 1y agoWhat's interesting about his engineering is that he used to obsessively make models of the cathedral to "spike" his ideas. They show this in the museum. One of the most waterfall projects of all time actually had a fair bit of agile behind it.
- gorfian_robot 1y agono one ever mentions the Passion Facade by Subirachs. it is breath taking.
- gorfian_robot 1y agono paywall: https://archive.is/20250917120438/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/22/is-the-sagrada-familia-a-masterpiece-or-kitsch https://archive.is/20250917120438/https://www.newyorker.com/...
- riffraff 1y agoI'm glad this article explained how much the building speed increased. I was in Barcelona a couple times in the 00s and the work seemed slow and frozen in time. Visited again in the late 00s and the building seemed to have grown by a lot. Saw a picture of where it is now and it seemed it went even faster. I remember at some point the target date for completion was in the '40s, I would be happy to visit the complete building earlier, it's one of my favorite buildings.
- fpoling 1y agoThe original project for Sagrada included huge staircase from the sea side. The city hall in discussion if they should build that. The problem is that they need to remove a lot of buildings on that side and people living there are not happy about such prospects. Still it seems the moment is growing towards allowing it. Then I suspect it will be a long story as well.
- trabant00 1y ago> “It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.” If we go by the above then Sagrada Familia is far from perfect. I guess it depends on taste but I found it extremely kitschy. The lighted signs inside make me think more of a bar than a church. And I found the actual Barcelona Cathedral beautiful. There's also a pretty heavy discussion if the present thing is what Gaudi intended.
- unregistereddev 1y agoI'm in a similar minority - I simply don't understand Gaudi's visions. Touring another building he designed left me in a similar state of confusion. His work strikes me as kitschy and impractical. The trick lighting is genuinely cool, but it strikes me in the same way as a Disney show. It's a skillfully designed light show that is designed to temporarily overwhelm your senses. Like a Disney show, I don't feel moved by the beauty - it's more a sense that you just saw something cool that had a lot of attention to detail. Unlike the Disney show (which isn't supposed to serve a purpose beyond entertainment), I leave a Gaudi building confused because the tour guide kept touting how practical everything is and I just don't see it that way.
- scrubs 1y agoBeen there twice. Immaculate. Spendid. Unique. Character. Barcelona is an outstanding place to visit.
- mkehrt 1y agoFYI, I was just in Barcelona (I'd fortunately been before) the Sagrada Familia was sold out for the next several weeks. Parc Guell was sold out for the next several days, as well. Casa Batlo had a few tickets.
- anthk 1y agoI've been there, it's smaller than I thought.
- Helmut10001 1y agoDoes anyone know what the deal is with the left eye of Spanish architect Jordi Faulí in the NYT picture? It seems odd to use this picture without explaining what is going on. I could not find any records of Jordi having an eye injury.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- d--b 1y agoOk, I’ll be the one criticizing. I am a big fan of Gaudi in general, but it shouldn’t stop us from honest criticism. While visiting the inside on a sunny day will leave you in absolute awe that you’ll remember all your life, the outside is not great. Maybe it’s the execution or the change in technique or materials over the years, or maybe it’s because it lacks patina but it honestly looks like a patchwork of stones cobbled together with no global uniformity. It’s a giant mess. The (current) main entrance with the 4 tall towers look awesome, but the sides, oh boy, they really look quite bad. I thought someone else had designed them. anyways maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe it’s because I am one of the few foreigners who prefer Madrid over Barcelona. I don’t know... Definitely worth the trip if you havn’t seen it though.
- qweiopqweiop 1y agoI used to work nearby, and it eventually got to the point that I didn't even look up when walking past by. It's funny how incredible things become quotidian, in all aspects of our lives.
- fpoling 1y agoThe article mentioned that with the cross installed Sagrada will become the tallest building in Barcelona. But this is only from the ground. Barcelona is surrounded by high hills that are quite higher than Sagrada and there are a lot of buildings there. The hills offer spectacular view over Barcelona and The Sagrada Família. Park Güell is situated on one of those, but if you plan to visit it you can can also come to Bunkers del Carmel on another hill with a relatively short work, the views from it are better and no tickets are necessary.
- lqet 1y agoarte had a very good documentary about Gaudí some time ago, which also analyzed the engineering aspects of his earlier buildings in details. Very interesting, but I was unfortunately only able to find a German version on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH4YUeZSsTA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH4YUeZSsTA
- somat 1y agoOne of the things that blew my mind is how the calculations for large buildings like this were done. They design it upside down with string! the suspension of the string will produce the correct shape for compression in the domes and arches when inverted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRv_syz2DAc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRv_syz2DAc
- eastbound 1y agoActually, it doesn’t show the correct forces for downside-up buildings, but it makes nice mockups models, so people believe it. At the time it was excellent, today it would be dangerous.
- vlugorilla 1y agoAt least once in your life, visit the Sagrada Família. As you approach, don't look up to it. It's tempting, but wait. Keep walking until you're right in front of it. Then look up. You'll be staring at the most stunning building ever made by human hands: the scale, the intricacy, the stonework. Go inside. It’s worth it. The light is beautiful, and the architecture rewards unhurried attention. Take your time to wander, don't rush. One hundred and fifty years in the making, and still unfinished. The two completed façades serve as the "secondary" entrances; the main entrance is yet to be built. Completing the project will require demolishing four city blocks, a plan that is controversial and complicated because people live there. Many of those residents bought at lower prices with a clause acknowledging this; when the Sagrada Família is finished, they will have to leave.
- ggambetta 1y agoI was generally underwhelmed by it (possibly because of the extensive hype) but the light inside did blow me away, made the visit worth it.
- amunozo 1y agoThe lights are make it the most beautiful interior I've ever seen.
- s_dev 1y ago>I was generally underwhelmed by it What church/cathedral is superior in your opinion?
- rahen 1y agoFor some, it’s the sheer grandeur and architectural splendor. Strasbourg, Chartres, Cologne or Rouen Cathedrals, with their scale and delicate designs, often stand out. For others, it’s the spiritual resonance of a place. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela has stirred something deeper within, but maybe that was just me. I experienced the same with Lourdes and Le Puy-en-Velay in France because they carried something that felt "sacred" and transformative, not only from the buildings but the actual place. Then there are those who value historical or religious authority. Cathedrals like St. Peter’s in Rome or the Papal Palace in Avignon have that kind of symbolic weight, and I assume some would favor them over the more "profane" work of Gaudi.
- norome 1y agoMy two cents as an armchair architect: The Original Gaudi façade is a masterpiece, astonishing to behold in both technical excellence and artistic originality. The sculptural spires are also excellent where they follow the law of weirdness and surprise. The rest is a valiant tribute, but ultimately lacking in the subtlety and freedom of Gaudì himself. It was based on his design as closely as possible, but we can only imagine him re-thinking and warping the design at each stage to create those original details and surprising moments that characterize the works he personally supervised. I found the interior boring, and the newer modernist façade was just an echo of the style in vogue at the time. I would skip going inside next time.
- lnrd 1y agoThe only reason I can find for anyone to be bored by the inside is if they visited on a cloudy day. The way the light enters through the stained glass and colors the environment (and how the light changes during the day) is astonishing, never experienced something similar tbh.
- empath75 1y agoThe inside is by the far more interesting part to me. It's a sculpture in light. I have never seen anything else like it.
- padjo 1y agoOnce you know about this building it becomes fun to use it as a reference point for any extremely ambitious, entirely impractical, but laudable project. E.g. so Jim is starting that refactor of the authentication layer? It’s going to be his Sagrada Familia.
- giveita 1y agoAll software is Sagrada
- moomin 1y agoTechnically speaking, it’s never going to completely realise the vision, which also included an enormous set of stairs on land that is now both heavily occupied and completely flat.
- zabil 1y agoIt’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the Sagrada Família — it feels less like a building and more like a living organism stretching toward the sky. Makes Barcelona along all that it already offers a beautiful city to visit. I also feel the tragedy behind its beauty. From what I've read, Gaudí dedicated later part of his life completely to it and he died poor and unrecognised, hit by a tram and mistaken for a beggar.
- chakintosh 1y agoThe Sagrada Familia is about to finish construction before the Camp Nou
- mezod 1y agoI walk by it every week and I still stop every single time. I was born and live in the neighbourhood and I've seen it progress. It's really inspiring to see man can conceive such beauty and wonder. I agree with other comments mentioning we software developers can/should especially appreciate it for the humongous endeavour, work in progress and feat of engineering it means. I also like to think Gaudi and Barcelona have impacted the way I see and appreciate design, and how I lamely try to embed it into my work!
- echelon_musk 1y agoTo anyone wanting to go, you must book in advance and you can only book online! I stupidly thought I could just decide to go one day when I was last in Barcelona.
- rceDia 1y agoWas in Barcelona and my co traveler said we will visit and tour Sagrada Familia..had no idea what it was. You cannot tell by looking at it from the outside what magnificent coordination of color and architecture awaits. Was fortunate to visit on sunny day. The stained glass windows created an ethereal kaleidoscope of colors in the cavernous interior.
- ccppurcell 1y agoAs a mathematician I'd like to draw your attention to the magic square on the Passion facade of the Sagrada Familia, with magic constant 33, the final age of Jesus. It has repeated numbers so it is considered trivial or not a magic square at all by some definitions (after all you could always set every cell equal to 1 to satisfy the other conditions). There are non trivial magic squares with constant 33. Nevertheless, this example is noteworthy.
- h1fra 1y agoI visited it 20years ago and wasn't really impressed. Then I went there last year, and I was blown away. The outside is nice, but the inside is truly a masterpiece, especially when the sun is low in the sky
- tedggh 1y agoFamilia doesn’t need an accent because the stress is in the second to last syllable and the word ends in a vowel. I speak Spanish fluently and this made doubt so I had to look it up lol.
- rullera 1y agoYou are translating it. The original name it's in català. Família. The accent is correct
- cft 1y agoI lived in Spain for several years. The general theme here is endless construction. There was a construction in the food market nearby that lasted for 4 years, and it has been still going on when I left. In the US, this would have been done in 2 months. The Spanish love slow construction.
- hsuduebc2 1y agoI certainly recommend visit Sagrada Família in a sunny day! The work of the light inside is majestic.
- weatherlight 1y agoI live a 20 minute walk away. I never tire of looking at it. When friends come to visit I usually skip the touristy stuff but I will always accompany them to go see the Sagrada Família.
- oatsandsugar 1y agoIt is so beautiful, but it is definitely on the list of "touristy stuff" in Barcelona.
- sjclemmy 1y agoI have visited 2x - Once recently and it was very impressive. But I also climbed the towers in a thunder storm in 1990. Which was a terrifying experience. The stairs had about 50cm of stone balustrade on the inside which was not enough to feel safe. I was on my hands and knees by the very top. It was either real or vertigo but I swear I could feel the tower sway as the lightening and thunder crashed all around. A most treasured experience
- fennecbutt 1y agoOh, might hop over and see it again then. Take some delta 400 or something.