{"id":6647,"date":"2026-05-18T13:53:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T11:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/?p=6647"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:31:33","slug":"terminals-frontons-cruise-hall-symbolism-and-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/terminals-frontons-sala-creuer-simbologia-i-construccio\/","title":{"rendered":"Symbology and construction of the spires on the Crossing Room pediments"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, the windows are topped with a pediment with a spire. On the side fa\u00e7ades, there are baskets of fruits and Eucharistic offerings, as we explained in this post<\/a>. Now we\u2019re looking at the ones on the outside of the Crossing Room<\/a>, the latest to be installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crossing Room: just above the Temple crossing and below the tower of Jesus Christ, we find this space, where light filters down into the Basilica through 25 skylights. Plus, it is where the columns of the crossing branch out to become the base of the tower of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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They are the spires of fire, water and wind<\/strong>: three representations of the arrival of the Holy Spirit according to the Gospels<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Models of the spires on the Crossing Room pediments<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The elements, made of concrete and covered in ceramic tiles, emerge from the pediments through four paraboloids made of Vilach\u00e1 granite with the inscription \u00abPax Vobis\u00bb<\/a> in trencad\u00eds mosaic<\/a>. Both the letters and the golden stars alongside them are inspired by similar elements on the tower of Barnabas, the only one Antoni Gaud\u00ed saw finished. So are the ceramic tiles, which are the same size as the ones on the tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Piece with part of the inscription on the fire spire (left). Inscriptions on the spire of the tower of Barnabas, on the Nativity fa\u00e7ade, the only one Antoni Gaud\u00ed saw finished (right)<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pax Vobis: from the Latin meaning \u2018peace to you\u2019, the Gospels tell of Jesus using this phrase to greet his disciples after the Resurrection.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The fire element, the only one that has been installed so far, faces the Passion fa\u00e7ade, as an expression of the Resurrection after the Death of Jesus Christ; the water spire, facing the Nativity fa\u00e7ade, as the source of life and element of baptism; and the wind element, facing the future Glory fa\u00e7ade, is a symbol of God\u2019s breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Floor plan of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia with the elements of fire, facing the Passion fa\u00e7ade; wind, the Glory fa\u00e7ade; and water, the Nativity fa\u00e7ade.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As with other projects at the Basilica, the spires \u2014designed by Etsuro Sotoo and the Temple team of artists and model-makers <\/strong>\u2014 are the result of a meticulous process of making and studying sketches and models, using Gaud\u00ed\u2019s work method. Models are used to test and correct aspects such as shape and colour, which in the case of the spires apply a colour palette developed over the years that is exclusive to the Basilica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the art and projects teams reach a final solution, the piece is sent to production. In this case, the spires were made in pieces using moulds and covered in ceramic tiles by hand. These weeks, the pieces are being moved from the production centre in Galera, in the Bages region, to the Basilica, where each spire is assembled using metal anchors to connect the pieces. In total, each spire is 9.5 metres tall and weighs 30 tonnes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Putting the ceramic tiles on the water spire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The crosses indicate where the tiles should be placed in each colour<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finished pieces in Galera<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Installing the fire spire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joining the fire element to the paraboloids<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joining two pieces of the fire element<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, the joints of the pieces are covered with trencad\u00eds ceramics.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fire terminal outside the Crossing Room installed on the Passion facade side<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the coming weeks the other spires will be installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A la Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, els finestrals estan rematats per un front\u00f3 amb un terminal. A les fa\u00e7anes laterals hi ha cistelles de fruita i ofrenes eucar\u00edstiques, tal com expliquem en aquest article. Ara ens centrem en els que hi ha a la part exterior de la Sala Creuer, els \u00faltims que s\u2019han comen\u00e7at a instal\u00b7lar. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":6738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,22],"tags":[35,139,57],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obra","category-simbologia","tag-construccio","tag-sagrada-familia","tag-simbologia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647","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=6647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}