Watching History Unfold Brick by Brick in Barcelona
Traveling around Europe, I often get the feeling of traveling backwards through time. Everything is so much older here compared to the United States where a mall dating back as far as the 1980’s might be considered ‘ancient.’
But while old Europe’s well preserved cities are of course quaint, fascinating and eminently historic, I can’t help but think sometimes that everything around me was built by dead guys (A thought that first occurred to me after visiting the Catacombs in Paris).
Perhaps that’s why my favorite monument in all of Europe is the Segrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. It’s not old. In fact, it’s still growing.
The Temple of the Sacred Family was started way back in 1883. The intent was to built a Cathedral that would represent Christendom, as well as show off Barcelona’s newfound prosperity from the Industrial Revolution. The original architect on the project was fired after a year and replaced by Antoni Gaudi who was just 31 at the time. Despite being color blind and suffering from cripple rhumetism, Gaudi had already become one of Barcelona’s most well known architects. He was the leader of the art movement known as Moderniste, a Spanish offshoot of art Nouveau. Gaudi worked on the Cathedral of the Segrada Familia for 40 years and dedicated the last 16 years of his life soley to the Cathedral. By the end, he even lived inside temple year round to help speed construction and was called “God’s architect” by the Barcelona people. When asked once about the length of construction on the project , Gaudi responded by saying: “It doesn’t matter how long the project takes… My client, is not in a hurry, “
It’s a good thing. Because almost 100 years later, work is still going, funded entirely by private donations. Work is now continued under the direction of Etsruo Sotoo of Japan, with Gaudi no doubt keeping an eye on things buried beneath the central crypt.
Nowhere else can you watch history unfold brick by brick as its spires twist and stretch to the sky like a forest of giant beanstalks (The central tower will eventually reach 170 meters - by far the tallest in the world). Part of the fun is that there is always something going on. The building literally changes before your eyes. The constant movement of cranes, scaffolds and sculptors at work makes the Cathedral feel alive. If you decide to visit, you can also be happy knowing that your admission price goes toward helping to complete the Cathedral - that some day you too can be a dead guy who helped build something great.
I know I feel better.
