Walking into the Sagrada Familia is like walking into a forest during that magic hour when the light is low and color and shadow play out their drama. Stained glass artist Joan Vila-Grau realized Antoni Gaudi’s dream starting in 1959. The glass on the East or Nativity Façade, is the cool blue and green of morning light. The glass on the West or Passion Façade is hot reds and oranges. The glass at the top is noonday clear, so the mood of the day is amplified by the glass and the shadows it throws.
Gothic Cathedrals are often dark inside with the light shining through, emphasizing the stories the windows tell. At the Sagrada Familia you walk into a dazzling light show. I’ve tried to show some it my pictures. But I also stopped down the camera for some shots to give you details in the windows. It is a wonderland of light. You need to get your ticket online to get inside the temple. If you have the chance, do it.
The architecture is a forest. Gaudi has three different types of stone making the columns representing three different species of tree. At the top of the columns there are branches stretching to the ceiling. These take the place of the external flying buttresses on traditional Gothic cathedrals. They carry the weight down from the ceiling to the strong tree trunks, if you will. Gaudi wanted you to feel the power of nature on a walk through the forest.
There is a crucifix on one end of the church and a statue at the other. Otherwise, all the religious symbolism and the stories those symbols tell is on the outside. Inside you are to feel the presence of God in Nature. It works. I spend a lot of time walking in the forest. He succeeds.
Although it succeeds as if I am walking through the forest on a cruise ship day. While there are signs urging silence there is a constant, what sound effects artists call, a “café walla.” There is also a published dress code. Skirts down to mid-calf, no bare midriff or shoulders, men’s shorts below the knee, no t-shirts with commercial art, political art or artwork that will conflict with the mood of the building. None of that was enforced. On other words, it is like a cruise ship crowd, and it probably largely is. I saw one woman in a very tightfitting dress, side slit up to the hip showing a lot of leg and bare shoulders posing for glamor girl shots for her boyfriend. This is probably a battle lost. Although they do enforce a no hat rule. No baseball caps or sunhats inside.
