Sagrada Família
Basilica under construction in Barcelona, Spain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família,[lower-alpha 1] otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), in 2005 his work on Sagrada Família was added to an existing (1984) UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Works of Antoni Gaudí".[4] On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.[5][6][7]
Basílica de la Sagrada Família | |
---|---|
Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Catholic |
District | Barcelona |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Minor basilica |
Leadership | Juan José Cardinal Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona |
Year consecrated | 7 November 2010; 13 years ago (2010-11-07) by Benedict XVI |
Status | On-hold |
Location | |
Location | Barcelona, Spain |
Geographic coordinates | 41°24′13″N 2°10′28″E |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | Antoni Gaudí and Francisco de Paula del Villar |
Style | Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau and Modernista |
General contractor | Construction Board of La Sagrada Família Foundation[1] |
Groundbreaking | 19 March 1882; 142 years ago (1882-03-19) |
Completed | construction ongoing |
Specifications | |
Direction of façade | Southeast |
Capacity | 9,000 |
Length | 90 m (300 ft)[2] |
Width | 60 m (200 ft)[2] |
Width (nave) | 45 m (150 ft)[2] |
Spire(s) | 18 (13 already built) |
Spire height | 170 m (560 ft) (planned) |
Materials | The main material used is stone. |
Website | |
sagradafamilia.org | |
Official name | Nativity Façade and Crypt of the Basílica de la Sagrada Família |
Part of | Works of Antoni Gaudí |
Criteria | Cultural: (i), (ii), (iv) |
Reference | 320-005 |
Inscription | 1984 (8th Session) |
Extensions | 2005 (29th session: addition of items 320-004 to 320-007) |
Type | Non-movable |
Criteria | Monument |
Designated | 24 July 1969 |
Reference no. | RI-51-0003813 |
On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned,[4] Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.[8]
Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans.[9] In 1939, Francesc de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to go on due to the material that was saved from Gaudí's workshop and that was reconstructed from published plans and photographs.[10] Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. Advancements in technologies such as computer-aided design and computerised numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress and construction passed the midpoint in 2010. In 2014, it was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death,[11] but this schedule was threatened due to work slowdowns caused by the 2020–21 depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] In March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026, though the announcement stated that work on sculptures, decorative details and a controversial proposed stairway leading to what will eventually be the main entrance is expected to continue until 2034.[13]
Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art",[14] and Paul Goldberger describes it as "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages".[15] The basilica is not the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Barcelona, as that title belongs to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Barcelona Cathedral).