The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is a work on a grand scale which was begun on 19 March 1882 from a project by the diocesan architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901). At the end of 1883 Gaudí was commissioned to carry on the works, a task which he did not abandon until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea. After your flight to Barcelona, don’t miss the chance to go sightseeing and pay special attention to the beauty of this extraordinary church.

The building is in the centre of Barcelona, and over the years it has become one of the most universal signs of identity of the city and the country. It is visited by millions of people every year and many more study its architectural and religious content. Every travel guide to Barcelona pays attention to the La Sagrada Familia.

It has always been an expiatory church, which means that since the outset, 125 years ago now, it has been built from donations. Gaudí himself said: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people." The building is still going on and could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century.

The origins of the Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Família go back to 1866, the year when Josep Maria Bocabella i Verdaguer founded the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of St Joseph, which from 1874 promoted the construction of an expiatory church dedicated to the Holy Family. In 1881, thanks to generous donations, the Association bought a plot of land with a surface area of 12,800 m² between Carrer de Marina, Carrer de Provença, Carrer de Sardenya and Carrer de Mallorca for the site of the church.

The foundation stone was laid on 19 March 1882, the feast of St Joseph, at a solemn event presided by the bishop of Barcelona, Josep Urquinaona. Building then began with the crypt beneath the apse after a neo-Gothic design by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano. A short time later, owing to disagreements with the promoters, he resigned and the commission was handed over to Antoni Gaudí.

After undertaking the project in 1883, Gaudí built the crypt, which was finished in 1889. As he started work on the apse (and the cloister), everything went at a good pace thanks to the donations. When he received a large anonymous one, he thought of doing a new, bigger work: he discarded the old neo-Gothic project and proposed a more monumental and innovatory one in terms of both forms and structures and the construction. Gaudí’s project consisted of a large church with a Latin cross ground plan and high towers; it carried a major symbolic load, in both architectural and sculptural form, with the ultimate aim of being a catechistic explanation of the teachings of the Gospels and the Church.

In 1892 he began work on the foundations of the Nativity façade because, as he said himself, “If, instead of making this decorated, ornamented and swollen façade I had begun with the Passion, hard, bare and as if made of bone, people would have stepped back.” In 1894 the apse façade was finished and in 1899 the Roser door, one of the entrances to the Nativity cloister.

Alongside these works, at the south-west corner of the church, in 1909 Gaudí built the Temporary Schools, designed for the children of the workers on La Sagrada Família and the local children who were members of its parish. The following year, in 1910, a model of the Nativity façade was exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris on the occasion of an exhibition of Gaudí’s work, promoted by his friend and patron Eusebi Güell.

After 1914, Gaudí devoted himself exclusively to building La Sagrada Família, which is why there are no other major works from the last years of his life. He became so involved that he lived his last few months right next to his workshop, a room beside the apse used for making scale models, doing sketches and drawings, as a sculpture studio and a space for photographic work, amongst others.

In 1911 he planned the Passion façade and in 1923 the definitive solution to the naves and roofs. The works advanced slowly, though, and Gaudí said: “There is no reason to regret that I cannot finish the church. I will grow old but others will come after me. What must always be conserved is the spirit of the work, but its life has to depend on the generations it is handed down to and with whom it lives and is incarnated.”

On 30 November 1925 the construction of the first bell tower of the Nativity façade, dedicated to St Barnaby and 100 m high, was finished. This is the only one that Gaudí lived to see built, since on 10 June 1926 he died as a result of a tragic accident three days earlier, when he was run over by a tram. On 12 June he was buried in the Carmen Chapel in the crypt of La Sagrada Família, where his remains still lie today.

All those years, a large number of architects, draughtsmen, sculptors and model makers had worked on the project with Gaudí. Among the architects were Francesc Berenguer, Joan Rubió, Domènec Sugrañes, Josep Maria Jujol, Josep Canaleta, Francesc de Paula Quintana i Vidal, Josep Francesc Ràfols, Cèsar Martinell, Isidre Puig i Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí, Francesc Folguera and Joan Bergós. Among the draughtsmen was Ricard Opisso, and among the sculptors Llorenç Matamala, Joan Flotats, Joan Matamala, Carles Mani and Pau Badia. The most notable constructor was Agustí Massip i Brassó; the locksmith was Joan Oñós; the ceramic elements were made by the Pujol i Bausis company in Esplugues de Llobregat; the woodwork by Jaume Munné; and the ironwork by the Badia brothers.

When Gaudí died, the management of the works was taken over by his close associate Domènec Sugrañes, until 1938. Later directors were Francesc de Paula Quintana i Vidal, Isidre Puig i Boada and Lluís Bonet i Garí, all associates of Gaudí, people who knew the master and who directed the works until 1983. After that Francesc de Paula Cardoner i Blanch became director and then Jordi Bonet i Armengol, who has occupied the post since 1984.

In 1930 the bell towers of the Nativity façade were finished and in 1933 the Faith door and the central cypress.

In July 1936, at the time of the military uprising and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, revolutionaries set fire to the crypt, burned the Temporary Schools of La Sagrada Família and destroyed the workshop. At that time the original plans, drawings and photographs were lost, and some of the scale plaster models were smashed. We should point out, however, that since Gaudí’s intervention in 1883 and in spite of those acts of vandalism the building of the church has never stopped and has always respected the will of the architect’s original design.

After the Spanish Civil War the construction of La Sagrada Família began again and the church continued to rise slowly. From 1939 to 1940, the architect Francesc de Paula Quintana i Vidal, an associate of Gaudí since 1919, restored the burnt crypt and reconstructed many of the damaged models, which were used to continue the construction according to Gaudí’s original idea.

In 1952 the XXXV International Eucharistic Congress was held in Barcelona, and a number of events were organised in the church on that occasion. The same year the Nativity staircase was built and the façade illuminated for the first time; from 1964 it became permanent at the decision of Barcelona Council.

The works continued strongly in 1954 when the foundations of the Passion façade were begun, based on the many studies done by Gaudí between 1892 and 1917. After the foundations, came the crypt where in 1961 a museum was opened to explain to visitors the historical, technical, artistic and symbolic aspects of the church. On that façade the four terminations of the bell towers were erected in 1976; they were finished the following year.

One important date is 1955, when the first ‘collection’ was made, a whole day devoted to collecting funds to pay for the works, an initiative that was maintained in the following years as a way for society to take part in the construction of the church.

On 19 March 1958, the feast of St Joseph, the sculptural group representing the Holy Family, done by Jaume Busquets, was placed on the Nativity façade. From 1978 the foundations of the nave and the crossing were done and the columns, vaults and façades of the main nave and the transepts were erected. Since 1986, the sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs has been in charge of the sculptural work for the Passion façade, which he has carried out in his personal style over a period of twenty years.

In 2000 the vaults of the central nave and the transept were built and work began on the foundations of the Glory façade. That year, on the occasion of the new millennium, a mass was held inside the church which provided an opportunity to grasp the grandiosity of the work.

In 2001 the central window of the Passion façade was completed with the installation of a stained glass window dedicated to the resurrection, the work of Joan Vila-Grau. The four columns of the centre of the crossing were also finished.

The figure and work of Gaudí were especially remembered in 2002, when Barcelona Council promoted International Gaudí Year on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. La Sagrada Família took part with different events, such as the restoration, removal and opening of the Sagrada Família Temporary Schools as a new exhibition space, or the ‘Night of Light and Fire’, a show held on 1 June which, with its special illumination and a spectacular castle of fireworks, was the highlight of the commemoration.

In 2002, the sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs did the project for the wall of the prophets and patriarchs which Gaudí located in the porch of the Passion façade, and in 2005 the sculpture of the Ascension was placed between the towers of the façade. At the same time, the eucharistic symbols of bread and wine were placed on the windows of the central nave, the work of the Japanese sculptor Etsuro Sotoo.

In 2006 the Glory façade choir was built according to Gaudí’s models. The vaults of the ambulatory of the apse were finished in 2008. Between 2008 and 2010 the vaults of the crossing and the apse are scheduled for completion; on them the tower of the central lantern crowned by a cross 170 m high will be erected, and the apse tower, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The central tower will be surrounded by four others, dedicated to the evangelists. The church will be complemented with the construction of the main façade, the Glory façade.

The basilica has three facades, which are also filled with precise symbolism: the Passion Facade on the west; the Nativity Facade on the east; and the Glory Facade on the south. Each facade has three portals representing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love.

The Passion Facade on the west side, dedicated to the suffering and death of Christ, is nearly complete. It is decorated with striking, angular sculptures by Josep Maria Subirach (begun 1952). Not everyone is a fan: art critic Robert Hughes declared it to be "the most blatant mass of half-digested moderniste cliches to be plunked on a notable building within living memory." Its great doors, which serve as the main entrance, are printed with words from the Bible in various languages including Catalan; the word JESUS and select others are painted to stand out.

The Nativity Facade on the east side, dedicated to the birth of Christ, was completed before work was interrupted in 1935 and bears the most direct Gaudi influence. The birth of Christ is depicted in the center, with the Adoration of the Magi on the left and the Adoration of the Shepherds on the right. Above is the Annunciation and Coronation of the Virgin Mary.

High on the Nativity Facade us a spire with a cypress tree, symbolizing the tree of life. At the foot of the tree is a pelican and angels holding chalices, symbols of the Eucharist. At the top of the tree is a red Tau cross with an 'X' representing Christ's name and a dove representing the Holy Spirit.

The bases of the facade contain sculptures of turtles, symbolizing the stability of the cosmos. The one closer to the sea is a sea turtle; the one closer to the mountains is a land tortoise. Gaudi was a true nature lover and spent much time studying it in the countryside.

When work began on the church, in 1882, the architects, the bricklayers and the labourers worked in a very traditional way. When Gaudí took over the direction he was aware that the works were complex and difficult and tried to take advantage of all the modern techniques available. And so, among other resources, he had railway tracks laid with small wagons to transport the materials, brought in cranes to lift the weights and had the workshops located on the site to make the work easier.

Today, 129 years later, the building of the church follows Gaudí's original idea and, just as he himself did, the best techniques are applied to make the building work safer, more comfortable and faster. It is some time now since the old wagons gave way to powerful cranes, the old manual tools have been replaced by precise electric machines and the materials have been improved to ensure excellent quality in the building process and the final result.

The present Church Technical Office and the management are charged with studying the complexity of Gaudí's original project, doing the calculations and the building plans and directing the works as a whole.

Gaudí wanted to create a new architecture, with balanced, self-resistant structures. And so in his professional career he constructed parabolic and catenary arches and experimented with a reverse model of strings and bags for the church at Colonia Güell to calculate and construct inclined columns. For the expiatory church of La Sagrada Família, he proposed to improve the Gothic structure of the main European cathedrals and the project of the first architect of the church, and planned a balanced structure of columns that branch out like trees, as the culmination of the structural studies of his other buildings.

The church plan is that of a Latin cross with five aisles. The central nave vaults reach forty-five metres while the side nave vaults reach thirty metres. The transept has three aisles. The columns are on a 7.5 metre grid. However, the columns of the apse, resting on del Villar's foundation, do not adhere to the grid, requiring a section of columns of the ambulatory to transition to the grid thus creating a horseshoe pattern to the layout of those columns. The crossing rests on the four central columns of porphyry supporting a great hyperboloid surrounded by two rings of twelve hyperboloids (currently under construction). The central vault reaches sixty metres. The apse is capped by a hyperboloid vault reaching seventy-five metres. Gaudí intended that a visitor standing at the main entrance be able to see the vaults of the nave, crossing, and apse, thus the graduated increase in vault loftiness.

There are gaps in the floor of the apse, providing a view down into the crypt below. The columns of the interior are a unique Gaudí design. Besides branching to support their load, their ever-changing surfaces are the result of the intersection of various geometric forms. The simplest example is that of a square base evolving into an octagon as the column rises, then a sixteen-sided form, and eventually to a circle. This effect is the result of a three-dimensional intersection of helicoidal columns (for example a square cross-section column twisting clockwise and a similar one twisting counter-clockwise).

Essentially none of the interior surfaces are flat; the ornamentation is comprehensive and rich, consisting in large part of abstract shapes which combine smooth curves and jagged points. Even detail-level work such as the iron railings for balconies and stairways are full of curvaceous elaboration.

Themes throughout the decoration include words from the liturgy. The towers are decorated with words such as "Hosanna", "Excelsis", and "Sanctus"; the great doors of the Passion façade reproduce words from the Bible in various languages including Catalan; and the Glory façade is to be decorated with the words from the Apostles' Creed. The three entrances symbolize the three virtues: Faith, Hope and Love. Each of them is also dedicated to a part of Christ's life. The Nativity Façade is dedicated to his birth; it also has a cypress tree which symbolizes the tree of life. The Glory façade is dedicated to his glory period. The Passion façade is symbolic of his suffering. All in all, the Sagrada de Família is symbolic of the lifetime of Christ.

Areas of the sanctuary will be designated to represent various concepts, such as saints, virtues and sins, and secular concepts such as regions, presumably with decoration to match. Even though the Sagrada Familia is far from finished, the remarkable church is well worth a visit. You can visit the crypt were Gaudí is buried. A museum tells the story of this great architect and the history of the church. You can also visit the towers. An elevator and a long walk will lead you to the top of a tower from where you have a magnificent view over Barcelona. The climb is not recommended for those with fear of heights or for people with claustrophobia. Undoubtedly La Sagrada Familia is one of the most fascinating churches in Europe and one of the most famous sights in Barcelona. Near its location there are plenty of various hotels that offer guided tours to the church, starting every morning. You can get there via direct flight to Barcelona or to Girona, Reus or Lleida –Alguaire.