La idea de construir un temple expiatori (és a dir, a partir de donatius) dedicat a la Sagrada Família va partir del llibreter Josep Maria Bocabella, inspirat pel sacerdot Josep Manyanet —canonitzat el 2004—, fundador de la Congregació de Fills de la Sagrada Família i de la Congregació de Missioneres Filles de la Sagrada Família de Natzaret, encarregades de promoure el culte a la Sagrada Família i de fomentar l'educació cristiana de nens i joves.[6] El 1866, Bocabella va fundar l'Associació de Devots de Sant Josep, entitat dedicada entre altres qüestions a recaptar fons per a la construcció d'un temple. Per a la difusió de la seva tasca, va editar a partir del 1867 una revista, titulada inicialment El Propagador de la devoción a San José, inspirada en la revista francesa Le propagateur de la dévotion à Saint Joseph, publicada a Dijon pel pare Joseph Huguet.[7][b]
El 31 de desembre de 1881, Josep Bocabella va comprar per 172.000 pessetes uns terrenys situats a la zona del Poblet, aleshores una barriada de Sant Martí de Provençals.[8][9][c][10] Delimitats pels carrers de Mallorca, Provença, Marina i Sardenya, corresponien a una de les illes del Pla Cerdà, la qual, però, era més gran que les altres perquè, en principi, estava previst construir-hi un hipòdrom.[8]
El projecte fou encomanat a l'arquitecte Francesc de Paula Villar i Lozano, que va traçar un projecte neogòtic amb una església de tres naus amb creuer i un absis amb deambulatori, rebutjant la idea de Bocabella de fer una rèplica del santuari de Loreto, que se suposa va ser la casa de Josep i Maria a Natzaret.[11] El dia de Sant Josep de 1882, el bisbe Urquinaona posava la primera pedra,[12][13][14] coincidint amb la proclamació al Concili Vaticà I de sant Josep com a patró de l'Església Universal. Els desacords de Villar amb Bocabella van fer que aquest demanés assessorament a l'arquitecte Joan Martorell i Montells i van provocar la dimissió del primer. Aleshores, es va oferir el càrrec a Martorell, però aquest el va rebutjar i va recomanar Gaudí, que havia treballat per a ell com a ajudant, i el 1883, assumí la direcció de les obres.[15]
El desembre de 1884, Gaudí signà el projecte de la capella de Sant Josep a l'absis de la cripta, que fou inaugurat el 19 de març de 1885, en el qual intervingueren els escultors Llorenç Matamala i Piñol i Carles Mani.[16] Se sap que en aquest any hi treballaven un equip de vuit paletes, deu picapedrers, dotze escultors i un nombre indeterminat de fusters i serrallers.[17] El 1891 van començar les obres de la façana del Naixement,[cal citació] i des del 1895, la gestió del projecte va a càrrec de la Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, una fundació canònica per a promoure la construcció del temple mitjançant donatius i iniciatives privades.[cal citació]
A partir de l'encàrrec de la casa Milà de l'any 1906, Gaudí pràcticament es concentraria només en l'obra de la Sagrada Família que, de fet, ocuparia tota la seva carrera, ja que feia un quart de segle que en dissenyava i dirigia la construcció i moriria fent-ho; així i tot, el temple només quedava embastat.[18] Va poder veure'n construïda una part del costat de l'Epístola amb la façana del Naixement, de la qual només la torre de sant Bernabé estava acabada totalment i una part del mur exterior de l'absis.[cal citació]
El 12 de juny de 1926, Antoni Gaudí va ser sepultat a la capella de la Mare de Déu del Carme de la cripta.[cal citació] A la seva època, hi van col·laborar molts dels seus deixebles i ajudants, com Francesc Berenguer, Josep Maria Jujol, Josep Francesc Ràfols, Cèsar Martinell, Joan Bergós, Francesc Folguera, Josep Canaleta i Joan Rubió, i a la seva mort, es va fer càrrec de les obres un altre dels seus deixebles, Domènec Sugrañes, que va finalitzar la construcció de les tres torres de la façana del Naixement que quedaven pendents.[cal citació]
El 20 de juliol de 1936, tot just iniciada la Guerra Civil espanyola, grups d'exaltats anarquistes van incendiar el temple i van destruir bona part del taller en el qual Gaudí havia treballat i on hi havia els seus esbossos, maquetes i models. Tot i que es va perdre molt material van quedar restes de les maquetes, que es van restaurar, i la documentació que s'havia publicat en El Propagador, en l'Àlbum i que havia estat recollida pels seus deixebles, com Isidre Puig i Boada.[cal citació]
L'any 1944 es van reprendre les obres per un equip dirigit per Francesc de Paula Quintana i Vidal, Isidre Puig i Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí, els quals, a la mort del primer l'any 1966, continuaren fins a l'any 1981, en què prengué el relleu Francesc Cardoner i Blanch.[19] El 1985 va ser nomenat director Jordi Bonet i Armengol,[20][21] amb un equip on figuraven Carles Buxadé, Joan Margarit i Jordi Faulí i Oller.[20] El 2012, Jordi Bonet va ser substituït per Jordi Faulí i Oller.[22]
El 18 de març de 2007 se'n va commemorar el 125è aniversari de la col·locació de la primera pedra amb una festa, concerts i ballant una sardana (La Santa Espina) encerclant tot el temple.[23]
Segons les darreres previsions, la torre de Jesús s'acabaria a finals del 2025, i el 2026 es faria la inauguració oficial, coincidint amb el centenari de la mort de Gaudí.[24]
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família,[a] otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), in 2005 his work on Sagrada Família was added to an existing (1984) UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Works of Antoni Gaudí".[5] On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.[6][7][8]
On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned,[5] Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.[9]
Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans.[10] In 1939, Francesc de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to go on with the material that was saved from Gaudí's workshop and that was reconstructed from published plans and photographs.[11] Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. Advancements in technologies such as computer-aided design and computerised numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress and construction passed the midpoint in 2010. In 2014, it was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death,[12] but this schedule was threatened by work slowdowns caused by the 2020–2021 depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] In March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026, though the announcement stated that work on sculptures, decorative details and a controversial proposed stairway leading to what will eventually be the main entrance is expected to continue until 2034.[14]
Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art",[15] and Paul Goldberger describes it as "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages".[16]
Though sometimes[when?] described[by whom?] as a cathedral, the basilica is not the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Barcelona; that title belongs to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Barcelona Cathedral).
History
Origins
Sagrada Família was inspired by a bookseller, José María Bocabella [es], founder of Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph). After a visit to the Vatican in 1872, Bocabella returned from Italy with the intention of building a church inspired by the basilica at Loreto. The apse crypt of the church, funded by donations, was begun 19 March 1882, on the festival of St. Joseph, to the design of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, whose plan was for a Gothic revival church of a standard form. The apse crypt was completed before Villar's resignation on 18 March 1883, when Antoni Gaudí assumed responsibility for its design, which he changed radically.[17] Gaudi began work on the church in 1883 but was not appointed Architect Director until 1884.[citation needed]On the subject of the extremely long construction period, Gaudí is said to have remarked: "My client is not in a hurry."[18] When Gaudí died in 1926, the basilica was between 15 and 25 percent complete.[9][19] After Gaudí's death, work continued under the direction of his main disciple Domènec Sugrañes i Gras until interrupted by the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Parts of the unfinished basilica and Gaudí's models and workshop were destroyed during the war. The present design is based on reconstructed versions of the plans that were burned in a fire as well as on modern adaptations.[14] Since 1940, the architects Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí and Francesc Cardoner have carried on the work. The illumination was designed by Carles Buïgas. The director until 2012 was the son of Lluís Bonet, Jordi Bonet i Armengol. Armengol began introducing computers into the design and construction process in the 1980s.[citatiThe central nave vaulting was completed in 2000 and the main tasks since then have been the construction of the transept vaults and apse. In 2002, the Sagrada Família Schools building was relocated from the eastern corner of the site to the southern corner, and began housing an exhibition. The school was originally designed by Gaudí in 1909 for the children of the construction workers.[20]
As of 2006, work concentrated on the crossing and supporting structure for the main steeple of Jesus Christ as well as the southern enclosure of the central nave, which will become the Glory façade. Computer-aided design technology has allowed stone to be shaped off-site by a CNC milling machine, whereas in the 20th century the stone was carved by hand.[21] In 2008, some renowned Catalan architects advocated halting construction[22] to respect Gaudí's original designs, which, although they were not exhaustive and were partially destroyed, have been partially reconstructed in recent years.[23]
Since 2013, AVE high-speed trains have passed near Sagrada Família through a tunnel that runs beneath the centre of Barcelona. The tunnel's construction, which began on 26 March 2010, was controversial. The Ministry of Public Works of Spain (Ministerio de Fomento) claimed the project posed no risk to the church.[24][25] Sagrada Família engineers and architects disagreed, saying there was no guarantee that the tunnel would not affect the stability of the building. The Board of the Sagrada Família (Patronat de la Sagrada Família) and the neighborhood association AVE pel Litoral (AVE by the Coast) led a campaign against this route for the AVE, without success.[citation needed] In October 2010, the tunnel boring machine reached the church underground under the location of the building's principal façade.[24] Service through the tunnel was inaugurated on 8 January 2013.[26] Track in the tunnel makes use of a system by Edilon Sedra in which the rails are embedded in an elastic material to dampen vibrations.[27]
The main nave was covered and an organ installed in mid-2010, allowing the still-unfinished building to be used for liturgies.[28] The church was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI on 7 November 2010 in front of a congregation of 6,500 people.[29] A further 50,000 people followed the consecration Mass from outside the basilica, where more than 100 bishops and 300 priests were on hand to distribute Holy Communion.[30]In 2012, Barcelona-born Jordi Faulí i Oller took over as architect of the project.[31][32] Mark Burry of New Zealand serves as Executive Architect and Researcher.[33] Sculptures by J. Busquets, Etsuro Sotoo and Josep Maria Subirachs decorate the fantastical façades.
Chief architect Jordi Faulí announced in October 2015 that construction was 70 percent complete and had entered its final phase of raising six immense steeples. The steeples and most of the church's structure were planned to be completed by 2026, the centennial of Gaudí's death;[14] as of a 2017 estimate, decorative elements should be complete by 2030 or 2032.[34][failed verification] Visitor entrance fees of €15 to €20 finance the annual construction budget of €25 million.[35] Completion of the structure will use post-tensioned stone.[36]
Starting on 9 July 2017, an international mass is celebrated at the basilica every Sunday and holy day of obligation, at 9 a.m., and is open to the public (until the church is full). Occasionally, Mass is celebrated at other times, where attendance requires an invitation. When masses are scheduled, instructions to obtain an invitation are posted on the basilica's website. In addition, visitors may pray in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and Penitence.[37]
The stone initially used in its construction came from the Montserrat mountain, but it became clear that as quarrying there went deeper, the stone was increasingly fragile and an alternative source had to be found. Since 2018 stone of the type needed to complete the construction has been sourced from the Withnell Quarry in Brinscall, near Chorley, England.[3
