They've been building it since 1882 - and it's still not finished... (Sagrada Familia)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Sagrada Familia
Date:	01/11/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: amazing

Disadvantages: increasingly expensive

I've been lucky enough to visit Barcelona twice now, and on each trip a visit to Sagrada Familia, a Catholic Basilica that has being built since 1882 has been a memorable and essential part of my holiday.

Most tourists will get their first glimpse of the famous spires of the church as they emerge from the Metro station which bears its name, and is the easiest way of getting to the site. Quite rightly this destination will feature on most people's "must see" list. It's 100 year (and counting) construction has been privately funded, and these days visitors' entrance fees go towards the costs, with the nave due to be completed sometime in 2010, and the remaining facade and spires expected to be finished sometime towards 2030.

The gates open at 9am, and I would advise getting there early if you can, we arrived not long after opening and were able to walk in, by mid-morning the queues were quite long and no doubt the whole site was more crowded than when we visited, as it was during our walkaround we did have to dodge a fair few umbrella wielding guides and the Church was fairly busy.

At the time of my visit in 2009 the entrance was 11 euros, rather more than even the most recent guide book had suggested, there is some discount available if you have a Barcelona card (9%), but you will need to pay in cash rather than card, though children up to 10 are free. With the exchange rate at a rather depressing 1 euro = roughly £1 currently this is not a cheap visit for British tourists, who will need a further 2.50 euros with them if they want to go up the towers by lift, however in my opinion it is still worthwhile, and besides you do feel like you are contributing to something amazing. The Church is one of the most popular places to visit in Barcelona and indeed in Spain.

The Sagrada Familia is known for its association with Gaudi, the modernist Architect, who designed much of the Church, his work being carried on after his death; famously he was run over by a tram in 1926. His designs and models in plaster, which he used in preference to paper to visualise the form the church would take, were smashed during the civil war when his workshop in the church was attacked, but some survived and have been restored. The parts of the Church he completed can be seen in all their glory today, and the ongoing work is part of the appeal of a visit, you can see the expert tradesmen working on pieces of the nave, and on our visit a workman dangled Spiderman-like from one of the spires, whilst a whole team of Policemen stopped the traffic on the C/Sardenya (main entrance) to usher in a lorry transporting vast steel pieces, all part of the interest of a real working site.

The Church is accessible to all, we were able to take in a buggy, and there are ramps for wheelchairs as well as disabled toilets within the site. You won't be able to visit all of the towers unless you can climb down the rather scary spiral stairs, even though access is by lift, for the aforementioned fee. I did manage to go all the way down safely whilst holding a rather heavy 3 year old, so I couldn't tell you how many steps down there were, it seemed quite a lot. Glimpsing the spires and ongoing work through the open windows on the way down was really interesting if quite vertigo inducing.

As we visited the Church, having looked at the Passion facade (completed in 1978 by Josep Subirachs and representative of its time), we went into the main nave and were able to see the columns and roof in near completion, on the scale of an over 100 year build. I couldn't see that much had changed since my previous visit some 7 years ago, however apparently the work is nearly done.

Eschewing the 1 and a half hour plus queues for the lift at the main tower we went to the back of the Church - as it turned out this was a good move as we were able to walk onto the lift at the C/Marina side with no waiting at all. If you visit I would advise doing this as the towers are just as tall and in fact you will get a better view of the main towers in my opinion, besides I have never been one for needless waiting.

The Nativity Facade at the back of the Church which was completed by Gaudi is a fascinating sight, you can spend a long time looking at the various scenes that tell the story of the birth of Christ via statues in relief around the doors. There are the cows and sheep that you would expect in the story to play homage to the new baby but also some more eclectic animals as imagined by Gaudi. Also of interest are the exhibitions in the Crypt which tell you much about the history of the build and about Gaudi and the other architects and artists who have played their part in the construction of the Sagrada Familia over the years. I found an exhibition in a side room which explained how Gaudi was influenced by Geometric forms and nature to produce the somewhat crazy shapes of the columns was fascinating, everything was well explained in English as well as in Spanish and Catalan. It was also interesting to see the plaster models of the Church and see workmen restoring pieces and producing new models for yet to be constructed parts of the Church.

You can expect to spend at least an hour or two wandering around the site and gazing from the towers before returning to the streets outside the Church, you can of course see the outside from the street through the gates, and via a small souvenir shop, but in my opinion if you have made the trip to Barcelona it is definitely worth going inside. Sagrada Familia is a strange and interesting construction that reminds me of the sand towers I used to make on the beach by dribbling wet sand when I was a child - parts of it are beautiful, some bits are, depending on your taste, ugly or inspired. In any case a visit here is memorable and I hope one day to go back for a third time, whether it will be completed or not will remain to be seen, for me when it is some of the magic may well be gone along with the incongruous modern scaffolding in the nave. If you do get the chance go and see a potential future Eighth Wonder of the world in the making; it's a visit you will never forget.

More info and pictures:
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/

Summary: a visit to a barcelona must see