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Wildest church in the world being built in Barcelona

            Sagrada Familia soars over Barcelona

I’ve never been the kind of person who gets excited about church buildings.  I’ve always been more interested in building the Church – which theologically is not a building, but a group of people.  I’m sure this is partially a function of living in America at the dawn of the third millennia.  I like practicality.  If I were designing a building for the church to meet in I would probably go the minimalist, industrial route.  But there was a time when the actual building was much more important to the people who made up the church.  This hit home in fresh ways on my recent visit to Lisbon and Barcelona.  And it really hit home when I visited Sagrada Familia.

 

Sagrada Familia, or “Sacred Family” is the wildest church building I’ve ever seen.  It also stands apart from many of the other churches in Europe because it was not constructed during the medieval period when many of the great church structures like Notre Dame in Paris were being built.  The building of cathedrals in the medieval times had multiple purposes.  The buildings themselves were viewed as part of the worship of God.  The architecture was designed to draw the worshipper’s attention to heaven by means of massive vaulted ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows.  In a time when many common people could not read or write, the stained glass often served as a device to teach the story of the bible. 

 

The building of churches, or church buildings, also played a major economic role in the towns or villages where churches or cathedrals were constructed during the medieval period.  The construction of the building put hundreds of people to work.  When completed, the industry and commerce that tended to   spring up in the city often transformed the economy and prosperity of the entire area.  But Sagrada Familia is a different story.

 

Construction on the church commenced on March 19, 1882.  It continues to this day.  That’s right, the building has been under construction for 127 years!  The architect who designed the structure was the legendary Antoni Gaudi.  Gaudi was one of the pioneers of what is called the modernista movement in European architecture.  His work was highly influential on the work of other artists with roots in Barcelona - Picasso and Dali among them.  When you look at one of Gaudi’s buildings, your first thought is often a question of whether Gaudi was on drugs when he designed the structure.  The same question was often asked of Dali, who replied, “I am the drug…take me.”  Gaudi was not on drugs when he designed the Sagrada Familia.  He actually was one of the few artists of his time that had maintained faith in God and truly believed his work on the building was for the glory of God.

 

The exterior of the church tells the story of Jesus on three grand fascades.  The side of the church that was finished during Gaudi’s lifetime tells the story of the birth of Jesus in sculptures that adorn the face of the church.  The other side of the church that has been finished since Gaudi died tells the story of the Passion of Jesus in sculpture.  The side that is yet to be completed will tell the story of the return of Jesus and the glory of the coming Kingdom.  You might be wondering what happened to the fourth side, and all I can tell you is that there is not one.  You would have to see the structure to understand.

 

On our trip through Sagrada Familia we were assured that the end is in sight.  One day in the not too distant future, what Gaudi started will be finished.  When that day comes, this building will serve as a functioning Roman Catholic Church, as well as the primary tourist attraction in Barcelona.  It will be visible from miles away as the tallest of eighteen soaring bell towers – twelve for the apostles, four for the gospels, one for Mary, and the tallest for Jesus – will rise over 500 ft. over the streets of Barcelona.  Nearly three million visitors a year will come to see the church and be exposed in some way to the story of Jesus.  I imagine for most it will be a curiosity.  For some it will be a pilgrimage.  For me, it was a bit of both.  I found myself wondering if there is not some value in paying a bit more attention to the structures our churches meet in.  “Do all to the glory of God” was more inclusive to Gaudi and those who have helped build Sagrada Familia through the years than for many of us who have lost the connection of art and faith.  I don’t know exactly what it means to reconnect those two worlds, but I am encouraged by what I see in the life of many young Christians who are putting the two back together.  We might not need to build a Sagrada Familia, but maybe striving for some beauty in our structures would send a message to those outside the church that there is something beautiful about being a Christian.