Behold The World’s Most Beautiful Church In the World!

Behold the Sagrada Familia, near the top of this photo I found on Instagram…it reminded me that this magnificent Church was the largest unfinished catholic church in the world – and after more than 100 years of construction, it is finished!

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church located in the heart of Barcelona, a city my wife Alex and I visited a few years ago, when the construction was still underway…

Behold The Sagrada Famiglia!

Barcelona is a city full of energy – and art – and every day was a day of new discovery: but perhaps nothing was more amazing to us than the famous, massive construction project known as “Sagrada Famiglia” – under construction for more than 100 years!

Here is the view from Park Montjuic, miles away – which gives you some idea of just how massive this project is…

The “Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família” is a large Roman Catholic church that was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). 

After construction of Sagrada Família began in 1882, the famed Artchitect/Artist Anton Gaudí became involved in 1883 and devoted the rest of his life to the project – and never came CLOSE to seeing it completed!

Gaudi died in 1926 at age 73, less than a quarter of the way through the massive project. According to wikipedia, “Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. 

As you can see, the structure was still under construction when we saw it, but that didn’t stop us from being able to go inside and climb up it as well!

Here is a look inside the massive cathedral…

It is one of those buildings that is truly impossible to capture on camera – it is just too massive, but here is what you see when you look up into the cathedral ceiling:

As you can see, the cathedral floor is also massive…and there are a series of beautiful altars in the cathedral that you can walk by – and places to sit and reflect as well:

and then, there is the piece of artwork that functions as a massive religious statement:

Time to climb up into the towers – here is Alex looking out of the Sagrada – with old town Barcelona staring back…

As you climb the towers, you come across all sorts of amazing artwork and stone along the way…

And of course, you can see Barcelona through all of the construction as well…

You make your way along small walkways, high above Barcelona, until you reach the far side of the towers…

And then it is time to head back down the narrow staircase…

Did I say narrow? Well, it’s steep too!

Once you are back outside, you can really marvel at the amazing artwork on the outside of the towers…

Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, “It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art”[12] and Paul Goldberger called it, “The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages.”[13]

Gaudi’s incredible artistry is all around you in Barcelona…

These guys greet you the roof of another building he designed!

We had such a great time in Spain, and our close friend Barbara gifted us this great book called “Gaudi Pop-Ups”:

It is complete with, you guessed it, pop up versions of some of his amazing work!

Remember the Sagrada Famiglia? How about “pop up” style:

And my favorite: the rooftop helmets take on a whole new dimension:

This was just one part of our incredible Spain adventure…if you missed any of those stories, here is what we did:

Check out the incredible Boqueria, Barcelona’s world famous food market…you can click on that story here:

If that makes you hungry, then come along with us for some Tapas!

Here we are outside the world famous Cal Pep restaurant. You can see our entire menu by clicking here:

Many consider Cal Pep the best tapas restaurant in Barcelona – but the great Chefs at Passadis del Pep may disagree!

You can read about our food adventure at Passadis by clicking here:

And of course, you can see all of our Barcelona trip by jumping on one of their high flying aerial trams!

We also visited Gaudi’s Lizard Park…what do I mean by that?

That’s the entrance to Parc Guell, just another amazing work of art from Gaudi! Click here for a tour:

And of course, you can read all about our journey to the Costa Brava, especially as we searched for Salvador Dali’s house! Click here for that misadventure:

At the end of the day, it was one of our favorite adventures ever!

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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Real Estate, Spain, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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