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La Sagrada Fsmilia:
Big Ben, the Eiffil Tower... most cities have a distinctive monument.
Barcelona has Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, his, as yet unfinished, cathedral.
Antoni Gaudi, the internationally prestigious figure of Catalan
architecture, started work on La Sagrada Familia (Temple of the
Holy Family) in 1882, and for the latter part of his life dedicated
himself entirely to his great vision for Europe's biggest cathedral.
His dream was to include three facades representing the birth, death
and resurrection of Christ, and eighteen mosaic-clad towers symbolising
the Twelve Apostles, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and
Christ. On his untimely death in 1926, only the crypt, one of the
towers, the majority of the east (Nativity) facade, and the apse
were completed.
Ever since, the fate of the building has been the subject of often
bitter debate. With a further estimated 80 years of work (which
would Include the destruction of several buildings in Carrer Mallorca
and Carrer Valencia), it seems that the Sagrada Familia will probably
never be more than a shell. Even as it stands today, it has become
a world--wide symbol of Barcelona, one of the great architectural
wonders of the world, and a must on every visitor's itinerary. Parc Guell:
Deemed a failure in its day, Gaudi's eccentric hilltop park is now
considered one of the city's treasures and a unique piece oflandscape
design. The architectural work of Gaudi is inseparable from Barcelona,
largely thanks to his relationship with the Guells, a family of
industrialists who commissioned from him a number of works. For
Parc Guell, Don Eusebi Guell, Gaudi's main patron, had grand ideas
for a residential English-style garden city, with 60 houses set
in formal gardens Gaudi worked on the project from 1900 to 1914,
but it proved an economic disaster: only three houses were completed,
and the park became city property In 1923.
The park's main entrance is marked by two eccentric
pavilions. A grand stairway, ornamented by a dragon fountain, leads
to a massive cavernous space, originally intended as the marketplace.
Its forest of pillars supports a roof top plaza bordered by a row
of curved benches, covered in multicoloured trencadis (broken ceramics).
Throughout the 20 hectares of Mediterranean-style parkland, there
are sculptures, steps and paths raised on columns of 'dripping'
stonework Gaudi himself lived in one of the houses from 1906 to
1926. Built by his pupil Berenguer, it is now the Casa-Museu Gaudi
and contains models, furniture, drawings and other memorabilia of
the architect and his colleagues.
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