Tag: Building

Nature and its influence on the Sagrada Família: three examples

20 March is the first day of spring, the season when nature comes alive after its winter lethargy and shows off all its splendour. Gaudí found great inspiration in nature, and this influence was surely at least partially due to the fact that, as a child, he had rheumatic diseases that forced him to spend …

Pinnacles on the apse pediment: fruit of the Virgin Mary

The tower of the Virgin Mary, over the Temple apse, currently stands 110.65 metres tall and will be 138 when complete. It has eighteen levels of tensioned-stone panels already in place and construction will soon begin on its pinnacle. At the same time, the finishing touches have to be put on the rest of this …

Les Borges Blanques, Sagrada Família’s kilometre zero

Stone is the main architectural element of the Sagrada Família, and it has been since construction began under the oversight of the Temple’s first architect, Francisco de Paula del Villar. When Gaudí took over the project in 1883, stone was still the primary material used. At that time, the stone came from Montjuïc, the mountain …

Baptistery basements: activity returns to the Glory façade

Construction of the Sagrada Família is full of challenges. One of them has undoubtedly been building the central lanterns. Now that these are on track and about to start changing the Temple profile, the next important challenge will be the main façade, the Glory façade. As we explained in a previous post, work is currently …

2020: the year the Sagrada Família skyline changed forever

With the new year, activity has returned to the Sagrada Família in a big way. The past twelve months were intense, reaching several milestones, as we explained in a previous post. Possibly the most symbolic was that the central towers, under construction since 2016, surpassed the bell towers on the Nativity façade in height. These …

A ring for utilities: balancing use and maintenance of the Temple

At the Temple, the top priority has always been to continue the construction works, which now focus on raising the central towers. However, with the works, many other needs have arisen and everything that has grown up with the monument has reached a level of importance that cannot be ignored. Some of these needs arise …

2019, the year the Sagrada Família skyline starts to change

We’ve just kicked off a new year and, as always, it is full of resolutions. At the Sagrada Família, however, we remain fixed on our goal: to finish the Temple just as Gaudí designed it. Every year, we reach little, or not so little, milestones that keep us on track towards finishing the works. In …

2018: a year of beginnings, endings and continued work on the Sagrada Família

00Good stories, way back to the classics, always have three parts: a beginning, a middle and an end. These are the three pillars of any story. And, from the fairy tales we hear as children, our lives are full of them. In this regard, the Sagrada Família also has a story to tell. It began …

Montjuïc stone: from extraction to recycling

The mountain of Montjuïc is an important part of Barcelona’s unique skyline. The Romans called it Montem Iovis (mount Jupiter) but its use as a Jewish cemetery for centuries could also have influenced its name. The stone found there has been used for construction since the time of the Iberians and was very important during …

How was construction done in Gaudí’s time?

On 3 November, this blog will turn one. The date was already significant for the Sagrada Família because it was on 3 November 1883 that Gaudí was named the Temple architect. Now, however, we are also celebrating the anniversary of a communication channel through which we are explaining a project that is considered the great …