Visiting of Sagrada familia chatedral - Barcelona
When we were on vacation in Barcelona , we visited Barcelona couple times of a week. One of the first monuments that we visited were Gaudi's houses. The Church of Sacred Family was the greatest. The church of Sagrada Famila is the main tourist remarkableness. Before visiting the temple we were preparing (psihological) on a crush.
We visited the Sagrada Familia on hot but clear day so we have great views from the tower. At the time of visiting the church with derriks in background looks like giant, futuristic and in some way interesting building. Whole surroudings of church made impression of some futuristic movie scene. We visited also the inside of church. With small lift we take up to 65 meters, from where we can walk up to 75 and then back down to groundfloor 426 steps. From church tower we had a great view on Barcelona city and workers that worked on thrilling height. Unless you suffer from nausea or fear of heights, we recommend this to everyone. The lift access is charged at the lift itself, which is 2 euros.
Antonio Gaudi chatedral models
The entrance to the Atonement Temple of the Sacred Family allows the visitor to access, in addition to the construction works, the museum depiciting the past, present and future of the Temple through scale models, photograps, plans and decorative objects. The visitor can also learn about the life of the architect and other projects he carried out .Through a glass pane visitors can watch the model makers in their workshop restoring the original models of Antoni Gaudi and reproducing them at different scales so as to ensure that the original project is followed accurately. The construction of this unique Temple began in 1882, and one year later Antoni Gaudi was appointed Project Director. He worked on the project over 40 years until his death in 1926. The overall plan and his in depth studies of the project based on the use of innovative geometrical shapes of naturalist style, are the cornerstones on which the curent architects continue the work to this date.
The hanging model - Antonio Gaudi
In 1889 and 1908 Gaudi designed the Colonia Gueal Church with a higghly innovating method: the hanging model. With such a model in a inverted position a very lightweight masonry prick structure can be developed. The hanging model is based on the theory of the reversion of the catenary. A chain suspended from two points will hang spontaneously in the shape of the so called catenary. Only tension forces can exist in the chain. The form of the catenary upside down gives a perfect shape for an arch of stone masonry and in such an arch only reversed forces of tension, being compression, wil occur.
In Gaudi's hanging model a system of threads represented columns, arches walls and vaults. Sachets with lead shot resemble the weight of small building parts.
Until 1914 only the basement with a crypt and portico could be finished. Gaudi regarded this project as an experiment of the structural Inventions of the Sagrada Familia Church, like the branched pillar and the hyperbolic paraboloid szrfaces.
The cathedral of the Holly Family, like all the great monuments of humanity, has been built with a wish for perpetuation in time, in order to make it into a work of art. From 1882 - when the first stone was laid - until the start of the third milenium the constructin of the Holly Hamily has followed a long road of hopes and difficulties. The continuation of the works is evidence of this.
Building material of Sagrada familia chatedral
Stone, a natural building material, solid enduring and at the same time both rustic and noble, becomes evidence of the past and used in the present must be history for the future. Three principal properties define stone:
- the colour and texture, which contribute a specific aesthetic
- resistance, which absorbs the structural forces
- durability, which enables the building to last through the centuries
The fifteen types of stone that we are showing and with which the church has been built through these 120 years are kinds of stone that from part of the Earth and are the product of different processes and stages of geological time.
It Eight of the twelve bell tower of the facade, dedicated to the apostles and having a height exceeding 100 metres, are already built. The four belfries awaiting construction are those of the Facade of Glory, the 170 metre central dome in honour of Jesus Christ, the Tower of the Virgin Mary (125 m) and the tower of the 4 Evagelist. The vaults of the main nave are finished, and workis focused now on the area of the transepts and apse. From the very beginning, the only financing for building the Temple of the Sacred Family, came only from private donations and alms. We have impression that building would be the construction another 30 or 40 years.