Barcelona Landmark | Sagrada Familia: The Story Behind the Unfinished World Heritage Site

The Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (Catalan: Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família), also translated as the Holy Family Basilica, commonly referred to as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although the church is still unfinished, it has been selected as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church as a minor basilica.

Construction of the Sagrada Família began in 1882, and Gaudí took over the project in 1883, incorporating his own architectural style along with Gothic and Art Nouveau elements.

Gaudí's first signed design was for the Chapel of Saint Joseph (Capilla de Sant José) in the crypt. This chapel was built relatively quickly, and three years later, the first Mass was celebrated in the crypt's Chapel of Saint Joseph on March 19, 1885. However, the entire crypt was not completed until 1891. Gaudí then designed and built the Nativity Façade.

Gaudí devoted 43 years of his life to the design of this church. After 1925, he even moved into the construction site to live, dedicating himself entirely to the design until his death in a traffic accident in 1926. He continuously studied the church's structural design. Knowing that the Sagrada Família would not be completed in his lifetime, he left behind many 1:10 and 1:25 scale models, as well as geometric plans, documents, and design drafts, so that future architects could understand his vision.

By the time of his death, the Nativity Façade was nearly finished. However, after its completion, Spain fell into turmoil and construction was halted. Later, the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, and a fire in Gaudí's workshop at the Sagrada Família damaged the crypt and the Sagrada Família school, destroying many of Gaudí's valuable documents. Fortunately, before the war, the religious organization Asociación Josefina y del Templo had the foresight to deposit 800,000 pesetas in a London bank, so after the war ended in 1940, funds were available to rebuild the burned crypt and school. Subsequently, architecture students from the University of Barcelona were mobilized to piece together Gaudí's broken models, and together with Gaudí's assistants, they studied old photographs and documents to infer Gaudí's original designs. It wasn't until 1952 that a rough blueprint was obtained and construction resumed. The Passion Façade officially began in 1954, with the bell tower structure completed by 1977. The sculptures were finished by sculptor Josep María Subirachs between 1986 and 2006. To honor Gaudí, the sculptor placed a statue of the architect on the Passion Façade.

In terms of architectural mechanics, Gaudí's design for the Sagrada Família is one of the most unique in the history of church architecture. Gaudí's use of catenary arches, cable-driven arches, and tree-like columns provides sufficient support, allowing the church to forgo the buttresses or flying buttresses typical of Romanesque or Gothic churches, yet still achieve tall towers and large windows that create the lofty, light-filled atmosphere of Gothic cathedrals.

This innovative structure was remarkable in an era without computers. How did Gaudí know the exact angle for the branching columns to provide enough support? How did he know that without buttresses or flying buttresses, the outer walls could bear the entire building's weight? In the small museum in the crypt, there are old photos and Gaudí's models, but the most noteworthy exhibits are those explaining Gaudí's unique mechanical structure. Gaudí drew inspiration not only from the shapes of plants and animals in nature for decoration but also for structural design.

From Gaudí's original models, we can see how he studied the church's mechanical structure. He used strings to represent the axes of columns and arches, suspending small bags filled with lead shot to measure the proportions of vertical forces, demonstrating how gravity acts on the building. He then photographed the models and flipped the images to calculate the structure.

Gaudí's design for the church is rich in natural imagery, modeled after the forms of animals and plants, and each scene from the Bible is depicted like a picture within the Sagrada Família, making the church a catechism that every visitor can read. Currently, the completed and visitable sections are the Nativity Façade and the Passion Façade. The Nativity Façade, themed around the birth of Jesus Christ, features joyful, rounded sculptures that tell the story from the Virgin Mary's immaculate conception to the childhood of Jesus. The Passion Façade, themed around the death of Jesus Christ, features angular, modernistic sculptures designed by Gaudí to express the agony of the Passion. Sculptor Josep María Subirachs, following Gaudí's sketches, carved the scenes from the Last Supper, the crucifixion, and the ascension of Jesus.

Counting Gaudí as the first generation, the architects have included the second generation Domènec Sugrañes i Gras (1926–1936), the third generation Francesc de P. Quintana (1939–1966), the fourth generation Isidre Puig Boada and Lluís Bonet i Garí (1966–1983), and the current architect Jordi Bonet, who is the fifth generation. Because it is a church of atonement, donations are the main source of funding for construction, and the amount of donations directly affects the pace of progress, which is why it remains unfinished.

The construction history of the Sagrada Família has its twists and turns, and there is an obscure anecdote: the Sagrada Família has no building permit.

In fact, Gaudí was not the first architect of the Sagrada Família. After taking over, he modified the design of the first architect, Francesc de Paula del Villar. As early as 1885, Gaudí applied for a new permit from the city government due to the design changes. At that time, the Sagrada Família was not within Barcelona city limits but belonged to the municipality of Sant Martí de Provençals, which was later incorporated into Barcelona as a district in 1897. The building committee did not reapply for a permit, assuming it was an internal matter for the Barcelona city government.

Construction has been slow, funded only by private donations and ticket sales, and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, with sporadic work in the 1950s. By 2010, the project was more than halfway finished, but the greatest challenges still remained unresolved. It is expected to be completed in 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.