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Sagrada Familia - Getting Closer to Gaudi

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Most friends and family would know I am not, at all, a religious person. A lot of this has to do with being brought up in a non-religious household, for which I am very grateful. As kids we were left to figure out our own belief paradigm and decisions regarding God and church but were sent to a variety of Sunday schools - Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, and Catholic. My paternal grandfather was a pretty staunch Lutheran and, unfortunately, the strongly bigoted kind that seemed antithesis to being what I understood as a real “Christian”. My maternal grandmother was raised Anglican but was not a church-goer and my paternal grandfather was raised Catholic and occasionally attended mass. When I reflect back on my maternal grandparents, their brand of religiosity was probably closest to being Christian - they did not push their views, they were loving and kind (although firm), and I do not recall either of them ever being harshly judgmental about others. And this would become important to me when I finally came out gay at about age 29 because all I ever saw in the media and around me was the vitriol from religious groups towards the 2SLGBTQ+ community.


To be clear, I completely understand the power of faith and its impact on people, particularly in connection to the notion of hope. I also understand how this dynamic plays out and can be reinforced within groups through a sense of community. And I also understand the need for people to make sense of the world around them, to find a higher sense of purpose and to find explanations for the meaning of life. I, too, have struggled with these existential questions while trying to fit into the world. But as one who reads a lot about history and how religion has been the bane of human existence for millennia, I have never been able to reconcile how any religious group can claim piety or virtuousity acting in “the name of God” to subjugate and/or eradicate another group of people - essentially playing God in the name of God. The polytheistic Romans over the Jews and early Christians, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflicts are just a few examples of what have been done in the name of God. As a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community I am all too aware how these same dynamics have been directed towards us, as a collective, and to me, personally. The last few years have seen a return to overt homophobic rhetoric and actions around the world through religion - in Russia Putin uses the Russian Orthodox Church to persecute 2SLGBTQ+ people, Iran and some African nations have the death penalty for "abomination of God's will", and we now see a rights being curtailed in the USA driven by the "Christian" right.


Having said all that, I do have a peculiar fascination with theology and histories of religion despite my awkward relationship with religion. I am agnostic, at best, but with a spirituality that is largely grounded in nature and the essence of being connected to the universe. So it may be a surprise to many that I can equally find that connection after a hike up a hill to take in a stunning vista or within an awe-inspiring place of worship.


Hence my many pictures of churches, mosques, synagogues, and the like. The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, St. Peter’s at the Vatican, Canturbury’s cathedral, and the temples in Italy and Greece have all captivated me from a pure architectural perspective but also at visceral and ethereal levels as I absorb the history, the symbolism, and the magnitude of the structures. For me there is also a feeling of energy that is hard to explain - the vibes of those who have been here before me and, weird as it may sound, those who were physically present during my visits. And it is not just the religious sites that have had this affect on me - it happened during my visit to the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich, standing at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, and while in the Roman Coliseum.


I also experienced this sensation (power?) when visiting the Sagrada Familia and it was not what I had anticipated - my initial thought was that the Sagrada Familia, though on a grand scale, was more of a modern artistic expression than a sacred house of worship. In fact, it was because of my misperception that I had not originally listed the Sagrada Familia as a high priority on our visit to Barcelona. However, I ended up having a very pleasant surprise on and following our tour.


When booking the tour, I had the advice of good friends to go first thing in the morning to take advantage of the natural lighting - this was to be the best decision as we ended up with both the brilliance of the lighting and of the tour guide, Jordi. It was through Jordi that the history behind Gaudi’s work really came to life and how the intricate meanings of Gaudi’si art came through in the architecture of the Sagrada Familia. For Gaudi was both a deeply religious and spiritual man whose intense study of nature was translated to both the structural designs of his buildings (the engineering piece) and the artistic renderings built into the structures. For instance, the main pillars branch outwards at the top as palm trees while transforming into the arches that serve to hold the main tower (named Christ) and the roof of the main church. At the same time, the engineering design is not the traditional Gothic arch found in many cathedrals and basilica - Gaudi used an inverted variation of arches (I do not know the the technical terminology) likened, I suppose, to that of suspension bridges.


While the traditional Gothic arches provide a strong structure for high vaulted ceilings and load-bearing for the roof, there was less opportunity for light to diffuse within the building due to the columns and arches. And if flying buttresses were required on the outside to support a structure, as with the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, this impeded entry of light into the building. Thus, Gaudi's structural design facilitated more windows for light and less impediment for diffusion of light throughout the interior. The result is a spectacular display of illumination and colour that is breathtaking, Some columns are of a polished material that further radiates the light; combined with the open space, the effect is magnificent and moving! In addition, the colour choices in the window designs are such that the prominence of colours changes with the changes in the sun's angle. So the glow in the church is always changing.


There are so many subtleties and rich symbolisms in the ornate facades of Sagrada Familia that it is hard to capture all of them. Gaudi was very intentional in all his choices of symbols, colours, building materials, physical structures, spacing, and order of presentation - and all of these details have been intricately entwined in every aspect of the construction. For example, the north entrance to the building has the arches of Hope, Charity, and Faith - the three main virtues of the Catholic faith. The arch for Hope features the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and Jesus) travelling to Egypt to escape the Massacre of the Innocents by Herod that is depicted by his troops.


On the opposite facade facing southwest are the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, with each station uniquely representing the Passion of Jesus. Cleverly situated in one of the stations is a sculpture of Gaudi bearing witness and recording the scene that was added by architects in homage to Gaudi's work. In the scene depicting the death of Jesus, the lance of Longines is shown piercing the church - as noted earlier, the central tower over the alter and main part of the church symbolizes Jesus.


Even the huge bronze-cast doors each had significant symbolic representations. One had the Lord's Prayer in Catalan in the middle with "Give us this day our daily bread" around it in 50 different languages.


Although Gaudi passed away suddenly in 1926 due to tragic circumstances, he left models and a fairly solid vision so that his legacy continues under the guidance of a committee of architects who are completing the Sagrada Familia. When complete, there will be a total of 18 towers with the center one representing Jesus as being the tallest. There is one for the Virgin Mary, four for the Evangelists, and will be 12 for the Apostles (four have yet to be built). I took the self-guided tour of the towers on the Passion facade side of the Sagrada Familia that started with an elevator ride to the top and a descent through a narrow spiral staircase. Just the experience of being near the top of Gaudi's creation was transformational with the close-up views of his mosaic tiled ornamentation of the other towers and kind of feeling part of the structure. Combined with the commanding view over Barcelona in all directions, especially towards the Mediterranean Sea, it had a very spiritual feeling. No words were exchanged between other people - everything was basically silent to allow one to just reflect and absorb the moment with just a bit of occasional wind whistling through the openings.


After the guided tour and experience of the tower, I sat in the pews of the church just soaking in the coloured lighting, watching the movement of diverse peoples throughout the various sections of the church, and gazing up at the crucifix suspended above the alter. From time to time the pipe organ would play an unfamiliar hymn (at least not familiar to me) and it happened that a recorded Angelus by a nun's choir was played at noon. There was something so humbling in the moment and, at the same time, a feeling of welcome and peacefulness unlike what I usually experience at other grand, but cold and austere, houses of worship. Gaudi's inspiration was grounded in nature, warmth, balance, and compassion that seems to permeate through every feature of his Sagrada Familia bringing forth a much more spiritual dimension than necessarily a religious one. I certainly found the visit to the Sagrada Familia to be a rich spiritual experience - one that I would not have anticipated.





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