To get into this incredibly famous cathedral designed (although not finished by) Antoni Gaudí, a Catalan architect from Spain, you first have to book a time slot. Then you have to go through an entry process that is more complicated than a security check at an Israeli international airport. We almost had to disrobe, bar our shoes. The number of security personnel present could man an army. But once you’re inside, oh, my, you’re in a fairy world of wondrous imagination and great genius.
What’s interesting is that at first Sagrada Família was to be a Neo-Gothic church; Antoni Gaudí was given the task to finish it. But he changed the design as he went along! Started in 1883, Gaudí worked on it for 16 years, apparently living like a recluse on the site. He’s buried in a crypt within the cathedral. When he died, only one tower had been completed on one of the main façades. This façade was only completed in 1904. The opposite façade (which is my favourite, with its very angular statues – which apparently are highly controversial) was only finished in the 1980s by artist Josep Maria Subirachs – he of the angular sculptures.
