Barcelona Day 2

"Rick Steves said it best when he said, "If there is any building on earth I'd like to see, it's the Sagrada Familia....finished".

      Barcelona is the capital of MODERNISME art movement.  The Catalan cultural revival gave birth to Modernisme (Catalan new art) at the end of the 19th century.  Its "taste for what is modern", broke free from tradition as artists experiemented with glass, tile, iron, and brick.  Modernisme was a way of life from 1888-1906 as Barcelona burst into the 20th century. 
       Antoni Gaudi was Barcelona's most famous Modernista artist.  He incorporated inronwork into his architecture and came up with novel approaches to architectural structure and space.  It was only fitting that we make a visit to Gaudi's most famous and persistant work while in Barcelona.......THE FAMILIA SAGRADA (Holy Family Church).  Gaudi worked on the Sagrada Familia from 1883 until his death in 1926.  The half -finished church is not expected to be completed for another quarter-century since it is funded exclusively by private donations and entry fees. (Rick Steves' Spain book 2011)

 

One of Gaudi's goals was to have no straight lines.  I really understand the phrase: "Its too Gaudi for me" now after viewing and learning about Gaudi's style. 

Civil war shelling burned many of Gaudi's blue prints in 1936.  The church has definitely been inspired by Gaudi's vision, but left up to other artists' interpretation.  It certainly seems to have a lot of variety and looks completely different from every side. 

At some point in the future a 9 story apartment building will be torn down to accommodate the grand front entry construction.  The Nativity Facade or east side is the only part of the church finished in Gaudi's lifetime and shows his original vision.  (Cleverly this facade was built and finished first to inspire financial support which Gaudi knew would be a challenge.)  Mixing Gothic-style symbolism, images from nature, and Modernista asymmetry, it is the best example of Gaudi's unmistakable "cake-in-the-rain" style. 

After viewing the church from all angles outside and opting not to stand in the line that wrapped around the church to see the inside, we decided to head to the "Parc Guell", but not before this interesting display of humans climbing humans to see who can get the highest.  Matching shirts and all for the teams?  An interesting passtime for Spaniards. 

We rode the subway and walked along many streets until we found the back entrance into the famous Parc Guell which displays many of Gaudi's creations. 

These people statues painted gold are really popular in Europe's bigger cities.  Doug and Chris took some time entertaining thoughts of a career change.  In the end they decided their hips were not genetically predisposed to the rigors of golden statue life. 

Gaudi intended this 30-acre garden to be a 60-residence housing project-a kind of gated community.  It flopped in this endeavor, but as a park for all to enjoy it is very successful.  It offers another peek into the creative genius of Gaudi. 

Up several flights of stairs was this under cover column area…known as the “Hall of 100 Columns” designed to house a produce market for the neighborhood’s 60 mansions. 

The famous dragon fountain.  I'm thinking crafty guru's got the idea for tile modpodge while visiting Barcelona. 

The grand staircase.

The mosaic medallions that say "park", remind people that this is modeled after an English garden. (Rick Steves Spain Book, 2011)

After our meanderings through the park, we had to hurry and get back to the hotel for our awaiting taxi that we were 10 minutes late for. He made us "pay" for it too. It was a very expensive ride to the dock of the cruise ship!

I couldn't resist one last photo of my cute friends stading in front of the AC Diplomat where we stayed. Missy, Terri, and Lisa.