Gaudi waited 100 years: Barcelona has completed the top of the Sagrada Familia
On February 20, builders installed the top element of the cross on the Tower of Jesus Christ. The construction with a height of about 4.5 meters completed the formation of the highest point of the temple – now the total height of the structure reaches 170 meters, writes Popular Science.
Despite this, the work is still ongoing: ahead – the final finishing of the interiors and installation of decorative elements.
Gaudi’s “Life Project”
Construction began in 1882, and the author of the project was the outstanding Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. He devoted more than forty years to the basilica, and the last 15 years of his life were exclusively devoted to this project.
By the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the building had been completed. Symbolically, the installation of the cross coincided with the centenary of his death.
The new cross is made of glass, ceramics and stone from Catalonia. The parts were manufactured in Germany and then transported by sea and land to Spain, where crane operators lifted the elements to the top of the tower in stages. Inside the structure is a spiral staircase, and the cross itself is designed to shine both day and night, in keeping with Gaudi’s vision.
The history of the construction was not serene. In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, part of the temple and the architect’s original drawings were destroyed. The restoration of the project became possible thanks to the analysis of surviving models, archival materials and modern technologies, including computer modeling. Since the 1940s, work has been carried out almost continuously with private donations.
A unique architectural masterpiece
The architectural appearance of the Sagrada Familia is unparalleled: 18 spires symbolize the 12 apostles, the four evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Christ. The facades are covered with the most complex biblical scenes, and inside the towers are placed tubular bells, the sound of which Gaudi calculated with consideration of acoustics.
However, the temple has always had critics. The writer George Orwell, in his memoir “Dedication to Catalonia”, called it “one of the ugliest buildings in the world” and wryly remarked that the anarchists showed “bad taste” by not destroying it.
Now the builders will focus on the interior. One of the key elements will be the sculpture of the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), created by Italian artist Andrea Mastrovito. The composition of glass fragments will be suspended inside a hyperboloid structure under the central cross.
The project is scheduled for full completion by 2034 – 152 years after construction began. Gaudi himself was once philosophical about the delayed timeline, joking: “My client is in no hurry.”
