Sagrada Familia

Reflections on September 21, 2008
Barcelona, Spain

Ireland was speckled with an array of ancient sites. Buildings created by means which we can only guess, their functionality, precision and beauty both mysterious and awe-inspiring. As we toured those sites, from the Rock of Cashel to Dun Aengus to Newgrange, I had a sinking feeling. Those grand works, I thought, created in a manner that surpassed that of which we thought the people of the age were capable, were legacies, memorials and markers from a civilization long gone. And yet, I thought, what do we have that will be the same to those who follow this generation? What architectural wonders, built with the care, precision and love of these structures, do we have today?

In Barcelona, my fears were allayed. Unknown to me before yesterday, the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece and life’s work, fit the bill. The church (it is a church, but the word seems too simple), is still under construction. It was started in the mid-1800s and taken over shortly after its inception by Gaudi, the master architect and dreamer. A quote from Gaudi sums up his work, he says, ‘my audience doesn’t care when its finished, he has all the time in the world.’ (I’m paraphrasing, sorry, but he means God) Gaudi took that very literally, knowing that when he started the project, he would never finish, but be forced to pass it on to his apprentices. The building itself is a marvel, the details in each nave and aspe and chapel are minute, beautiful and overwhelming. It is built in a ‘modernista’ style, where color and shape are wild and eccentric and yet the contrasting stone arches blend to create an atmosphere of grand praise to a God revered and feared. The city hopes to have the masterpiece complete by 2020, as it is just over 50% finished, this is a tall order for the organization behind it. A piece of La Sagrada Familia that makes the undertaking more grand as well as more meaningful is that every penny going to purchase each stone has been donated by individuals who believe in the project. I think those people have a vision that reaches far beyond most capitalists of today. They want to be a part of not only something that lasts from this generation onward, but something that is a gift to God, one that uses all the resources that we have available to us today. It is not just a beautiful building, not just a memorial or a marker, but proof that we, of the 21st century, of the era of fast food, fast cars and fast lives can slow down enough to make something truly beautiful, something not quite worthy of an incredible God, but as close as we can come.