Sagrada Familia is one of the unfinished architectonic creations of Antoni Gaudí who assume the direction of the construction in 1883 and worked in it until his death, in 1926. Situated in the centre of Barcelonait is considerate the maximum exponent of Catalan modernistic architecture, and it’s also a symbol for the city and for Catalonia. Its origin is dated in 1882, as a consequence of another architect, the diocesan Franciso de Paula villar. The basilica was consecrated of Pope Benedict XVI in November 2010.
Because of the idea to keep the original thoughts of Gaudí, even in material and shapes, nowadays the Technique Office of the Temple and the direction are the responsible of studying the original project and make the calculations and organize the future constructions.
Sagrada Familia is a church composed with five naves and a crossing with three, forming a Latin cross. The structure of the naves is the will of Gaudí in order to create a new architecture with equilibrate structures and auto resistant. It keeps, his way of work. During his professional career, Gaudí constructed parabolic and catenary arches and experimented with a reverse model of strings and bags fort the church at Colonia Güell to calculate and construct inclined columns.
Although, for Sagrada Familia, Gaudí wanted to improve the Gothic structure of the main European cathedrals and that’s why planned a balanced structure of columns that branch out like trees, as the culmination of the structural studies of his other buildings.
Photography: Elena Merín