{"id":3262,"date":"2026-05-27T13:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/?p=3262"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:07:41","slug":"baldachin-sagrada-family-history-and-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/baldaqui-sagrada-familia-historia-i-significat\/","title":{"rendered":"Meaning of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia baldachin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The baldachin <\/a> on the main altar at the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia was inaugurated in 2010 for the consecration of the Basilica. Now that another Holy Father has visited the Temple, Pope Leo XIV, it has recently been restored. This process included a general cleaning, resewing the parchment and updating the electrical installations and LED lighting. This post explains its history and meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baldachin: canopy or dais once placed over kings\u2019 thrones, which the Christian Church adopted to ennoble and honour the altar. The word comes from the city of Baldac, an old name for Baghdad, which was the source of valuable silks often used to make the baldachins.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Per fer el baldaqu\u00ed, Jordi Bonet, arquitecte director de la Sagrada Fam\u00edlia des del 1985 fins al 2012, i el seu equip van agafar de refer\u00e8ncia el que Antoni Gaud\u00ed havia projectat durant la<\/strong> reforma de la catedral de Mallorca<\/strong> entre els anys 1903 i 1914. Com passa amb altres obres seves, l\u2019estructura definitiva no es va arribar a construir i nom\u00e9s se\u2019n va executar un model provisional, que \u00e9s el que hi ha actualment. Tot i aix\u00f2, l\u2019expressi\u00f3 dels elements simb\u00f2lics que havia de contenir ja havia quedat completament definida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baldachin for the Cathedral of Mallorca, designed by Antoni Gaud\u00ed. Source: Chapter of the Cathedral of Mallorca<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like the one in Mallorca, Sagrada Fam\u00edlia dais, with a metal structure and gold and ochre tones, is a heptagon, alluding to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit written on the outside of the parchment panels on its sides: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of God. On the inner face, the panels have the letters \u201cSS\u201d, which stands for Sanctissimus (Most Holy).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the centre, the letters \u201cINRI\u201d, from the Latin Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum<\/em> (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), refer to Jesus Christ on the cross just below, and the words to the song Gloria in excelsis Deo in Catalan complete both the interior and exterior faces. The letters, in red Gaudiesque calligraphy are lit up, so worshippers can read the beginning of the song without having to move. To read the whole thing, however, you have to move around the apse ambulatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heptagonal dais on the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia baldachin<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In allusion to the elements of communion, there are also glass grape bunches and copper leaves and vine shoots. On top, there are ears of wheat made of white wood and nails<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On each side of the baldachin hang seven lamps, plus one in the centre, for the 50 lamps of Pentecost<\/a><\/strong>, inspired by the baldachin of the Roman Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, former seat of Popes and mother of all Catholic churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Details of the elements of communion and lamps hanging from the baldachin<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pentecost: feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles 40 days after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was the beginning of the Church. The Gospels represent this with tongues of fire above the apostles\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The central element hanging from the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia dais is the Christ, created by Francesc Fajula<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>. To do so, the sculptor based his work on the crucifix in the chapel of prayer at Casa Batll\u00f3 by Carles Mani, which is now in the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia museum. As we explained in this previous blog post<\/a>, Mariano Barcel\u00f3, head stonemason at the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia in Gaud\u00ed\u2019s time, was chosen to be the model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francesc Fajula (Sant Joan de les Abadeses, 1945): architect, sculptor and PhD in Fine Arts and expert in heritage sites. He has worked with the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia on several sculptures, including the sculpture group of the Empty Tomb on the Passion fa\u00e7ade and the crucifix on the central altar baldachin.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jesus on the cross dominates the view from the main nave as you walk through what will be the Basilica\u2019s main entrance, the future Glory fa\u00e7ade, and, with the sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph on the transept balconies, completes the three members of the Holy Family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with God the Creator, represented in a triangular mosaic in Venetian glass on the apse vault, the baldachin and the Christ complete the representation of the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The whole baldachin, with Christ on the cross, and the triangular mosaic on the apse vault, representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The whole structure hangs from two black basalt columns dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, with the following inscriptions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El baldaqu\u00ed de l\u2019altar major de la Sagrada Fam\u00edlia es va inaugurar l\u2019any 2010 amb la celebraci\u00f3 de la dedicaci\u00f3 de la Bas\u00edlica. Aprofitant la visita del papa Lle\u00f3 XIV, fa uns dies es van culminar els treballs de restauraci\u00f3, que han consistit a fer una neteja general, recosir el pergam\u00ed i renovar la instal\u00b7laci\u00f3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":6755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[139,57],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-simbologia","tag-sagrada-familia","tag-simbologia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6819,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions\/6819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}