"The Sagrada Família is an immense, unfinished church in Barcelona, begun in 1882 on what was once outlying farmland and is now the city's center. When I last visited the building, in July, it was nine inches away from being the tallest in the city. Less than two weeks later, when a ring beam to support the base of a cross was added to its biggest tower, dedicated to Jesus, the church surpassed the city's"
"The sandstone basilica will reach its full height, however, only once the cross-which is fifty-five feet tall and made of fluted steel-is installed atop the tower, later this month. This addition will also make it the tallest church in the world. But Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect who spent forty-three years working on the Sagrada Família, did not think that his work should compete with God's, so the basilica will remain a few feet lower than the iconic peak of Montjuïc."
"Its conical Art Nouveau pinnacles have the lumpy beauty of sandcastles. Building such an unusual church has been a famously slow project, even in a country where, to American eyes, many things move without haste. "Això dura més que les obres de la Sagrada Família" -"This is taking longer than building the Sagrada Família" -is a Catalan phrase one hears on the streets of Barcelona."
The Sagrada Família is an immense, unfinished basilica in Barcelona that began construction in 1882 on former farmland and now anchors the city center. Recent structural work made the church taller than nearby skyscrapers and the installation of a fifty-five-foot steel cross will bring it to full height, making it the tallest church in the world. Antoni Gaudí devoted forty-three years to the project but intended the building not to exceed the sacred peak of Montjuïc. The design blends morphing geometries and nature-inspired forms, features conical Art Nouveau pinnacles, and has advanced slowly as an expiatory church funded by donations.
Read at The New Yorker
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