Sagrada Familia, 2023: School And Museum

 After the towers, we did the school and museum, and, of course, the gift shop...

In 1906, with work well underway, Gaudi established a school on
the construction site premises, for the children of the workers

Helpful model, with undulating Gaudian roof...it would be until
the later 20th century that Friedensreich Hundertwasser would add
an undulating floor to the mix (helpful architectural insight) 

Classroom; note non-Modernista desks and benches

Undulating roof

In the museum now, a helpful chronology of the construction

OK, so, see, it was the Spiritual Association of
the Devotees of St. Joseph...

Helpful model #11,377, an early model

Among Gaudi's earlier sketches...

Early floor plan

Proportions...click to enlarge

Example of tubular bells used in the temple

Re-creation of Gaudi's office; it was all destroyed, along with many
of his papers and designs, in the Civil War (Sherman's March to the 
Sea...wait, no...)

Helpful model #11,378, along with self-portrait of
the photographer

Re-creation of one of Gaudi's design models

More helpful models

Workshop where all the helpful models come from

Photograph of procession for the 2010 consecration of
the temple, featuring whomever was the pope then

All the chief architects who have worked on Sagrada Familia; so far

Actually the tienda was pretty good, as well it should be; among
the three best, Battlo, MNAC, and Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia, 2023: Ascent And Descent of The Towers

Practical tip: If you visit Barcelona and do the Sagrada Familia and think you want to do the towers, be sure to scroll down and carefully read the fine print before you buy your online tickets. There, you will discover that, while an elevator takes you nearly to the mirador in the tower, you have to walk back down. No elevator. What it doesn't tell you at all is that you have walk down a very narrow, steep, exposed, winding 406 steps. 406. Not good for 70-something knees, especially the artificial ones; nor for persons with balance issues. But we did it, enjoyed the views, and only had to take one following day off and additional doses of pain reliever to recover. Further practical tip: there are other, cheaper, less painful ways to see Barcelona from on high.

At the mirador, which is actually a sort of catwalk between
two of the towers

Construction site

Baguettes?

Now most of the way down, wide enough to stop
for a few pix

In the forest of columns

Literally, at the exit, they tell you...

Sagrada Familia, 2023

Or Sangria Familia, as we call it. We've been visiting Gaudi's Modernista church since 2010, even before the interior was opened. Even before it was consecrated. We spent four full hours this time, doing a 45 minute English tour, the school, the museum, the sacristy, the restrooms, and wore ourselves out doing the towers. And then the gift shoppe. It's all a bit much, if you ask me, even if you like Modernisme and Gaudi. If the Catholics ever do an amusement park, the Minor Basilica and Temple Expiatory of the Sacred Family will be their Cinderella's Castle. Obviously, the Sangria Familia will require several posts, including its own out-takes.

It was just a kilometer or so from our apartment,
so we walked; here, approaching from the west; still
Christendom's largest unfinished church, it is said

The entrance, and the start our tour, were on the east side,
that is, the Nativity side; here, some of the Nativity sculpture

Annunciation

Now inside; we were not alone; Gaudi wanted the inside
to look like a forest of trees; part of his Nature Boy aesthetic

Some of the glass; not 13th century; not even 20th;
mostly blue/green on the Nativity side; red/orange
on the Passion side

Even if not Medieval, pretty fabulous

At the south end, St. George, patron saint of Barcelona; no dragon?

At the north end, JC; perhaps this is the place to
remark on Sagrada Familia's unusual--not to say,
unheard of, in (Catholic) Christendom--north/south
orientation; we'll see some of the other deities and
demi-deities in later pix

More glass

"Rose" window

Crossing; I think

Now exiting for a look at the Passion (west) facade

Thus

Passion sculpture; note Storm Troopers

Action shot with crane

Lamentation, Pieta, Deposition, etc.

Now we are in the sacristy, looking at furniture, etc., that Gaudi
designed for the church

Moveable pulpit

Modernista cue-cards for officiating priests

Sacristy sanctum sanctorum

Peering into the crypt, where Gaudi is buried...
died in 1926, run over by a tram...I speculate he
was absorbed doing a selfie...

Some of one of the organs

On the Passion, west side, Mary

And on the east, Nativity side, Joseph; the church
was originally sponsored by the Society of Joseph,
or somesuch; seriously; elsewhere, Joseph is rarely
regarded as more than a minor saint/deity; lots of
questions about him, what he was up to...

More glass

One of the Passion side doors; we think
this is Welsh for "exit"