[vlugorilla]

At least once in your life, visit the Sagrada Família. As you approach, don't look up to it. It's tempting, but wait. Keep walking until you're right in front of it. Then look up. You'll be staring at the most stunning building ever made by human hands: the scale, the intricacy, the stonework.

Go inside. It’s worth it. The light is beautiful, and the architecture rewards unhurried attention. Take your time to wander, don't rush.

One hundred and fifty years in the making, and still unfinished. The two completed façades serve as the "secondary" entrances; the main entrance is yet to be built. Completing the project will require demolishing four city blocks, a plan that is controversial and complicated because people live there. Many of those residents bought at lower prices with a clause acknowledging this; when the Sagrada Família is finished, they will have to leave.

[zachrip]

When I found out I am going blind, I traveled around Europe solo for a summer and I found myself at La Sagrada Familia...once inside I almost cried because the light was so beautiful. And finding a special spot to just sit and enjoy an espresso on a sunny day with it in the background is blissful. I'm not religious at all, but many of the nicest buildings throughout my travels were places of worship.

[prox]

That sounds lovely and very special.

I think it might be because places of worship have a function that is nowhere else to be found: a place for introspection.

Where a city is usually all entertainment and shops, a place for true rest and just enjoying the places is far rarer. Although some cities are wising up and creating more of those places in city planning.

[ggambetta]

I was generally underwhelmed by it (possibly because of the extensive hype) but the light inside did blow me away, made the visit worth it.

[abc123abc123]

Same here. On the other hand I think it is just how some people are. I do not appreciate art, and can live happily without music. Art in general, never gives me any profound experiences. Books on the other hand, now we're talking! Political performance art, also entertaining.

[amunozo]

The lights are make it the most beautiful interior I've ever seen.

[s_dev]

>I was generally underwhelmed by it

What church/cathedral is superior in your opinion?

[empath75]

I am not remotely religious, but I cried when I saw the inside. It is awe-inspiring in every sense of the word. It wasn't so much the objective quality I think, more that I was _surprised_ by how beautiful it was. The outside is, like others have said, somewhat kitschy, a little dated, more like an theme-park stoner version of a church. It just didn't connect with me, but the purity of the beauty inside just completely shook me to my core. Pictures do not capture it at all.

[rob74]

Yeah, this is really a building that you have to experience yourself, words and pictures don't do it justice. Gaudí is a worthy successor to the unknown masters who built the great gothic cathedrals: like them, he used the technology of his time to maximum effect. If you see all those towers from the outside and then go in, you're bound to wonder how the church can be so spacious on the inside. But somehow, it works...

[dheera]

Beginner Spanish question: Shouldn't it be Família Sagrada?

[probably_wrong]

First, small detail: "família" is not Spanish but rather Catalan. In Spanish it's "familia".

As for Sagrada Familia / Familia Sagrada: putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes done in Spanish to reinforce the importance of the adjective. "La blanca nieve" places focus on the color of the snow while "la nieve blanca" focuses on the snow itself.

[ktosobcy]

Quite often in case of religios names you have adjective->noun (e.g. Santa Cruz, San Juan); don't know why though.

[motorest]

> One hundred and fifty years in the making, and still unfinished.

The explanation behind this is usually the Spanish civil war, and then it's how the construction is funded by donations. The latter brings in a cynical twist, because the argument to keep the money flowing in ends the moment the cathedral is deemed finished. So you have a perverse incentive to stall the construction because once it's done then the whole economy around it will end as well.

Taking so long to finish it is not the badge of honor that's depicted. The project is just as complex as when it was when Gaudi died.

[ricardobeat]

Gaudi himself initially expected it would take 700 years to build. You’re underestimating the scale of it.

[stevoski]

Maintaining a building like La Sagrada Familia is a very expensive undertaking.

There’s no “done, so we don’t need money any more”

[dyauspitr]

I loved it. That being said, it’s fine. I was 10x more blown away by the Hindu temple in Robbinsville NJ of all places.

[noreplydev]

here someone from barcelona. if yo do this at night, it's better

[hbarka]

Over a span of three decades visiting Barcelona I have not seen the Sagrada Familia not surrounded by cranes and construction fences.