Christmas is Sunday, but I have an early present for you. Maybe something that can warm this frigid holiday weekend a little.
Back in October, my wife and I visited Barcelona — it was supposed to be a 30th anniversary gift to ourselves, but COVID. But after a couple of years, we realized the pandemic is never going away, so we steeled ourselves and flew overseas. I was vaguely aware that Barcelona is a city in Spain, important during the Spanish Civil War, having read George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia.” That’s about it. My wife stepped up, as she always does, and picked what we’d do: at night, eat magnificent tapas dinners at crowded cafes; during the day, visit sites designed by the city’s star architect, Antoni Gaudi.
We picnicked at Park Güell, the rambling high-end housing development turned pleasure compound. We took a night tour of La Pedrera, the curvy apartment building Gaudi designed and lived in, where from the roof we first glimpsed that capstone of our visit, the Basilica de la Sagrada Família, Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, an enormous cathedral begun in 1882 and set to be completed in 2026, maybe.
Trying to describe Sagrada Família in words and pictures is something of a fool’s errand. It can’t be conveyed. But given this is Christmas, a season of wonder, with the Three Magi setting out to witness a birth in a manger somewhere in Bethlehem, this seems a time for boldly venturing forth. Were you to go, you’d exit the subway station and first see this mountainous mass — it looks almost organic, a series of pointed conical towers wrapped in protective netting, rising from a mound of mud, with construction cranes jutting out at odd angles.
“Looking for all the world like a cluster of gigantic stone termites’ nests, a colossal vegetable patch,” wrote architectural critic Jonathan Glancey. “A gingerbread house baked by the wickedest witch of all or perhaps a petrified forest.”
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Thanks for reminding me of the wonders of Barcelona and Gaudí. I hope to get back there to see Sagrada Família when it's finally completed.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I read your column in the e-edition of the physical paper. Though I've noticed before that the link here at EGD goes to what is often an enhanced version of what gets printed, I don't often click on the link. I'm glad I did today.
ReplyDeleteThere are additional excellent photos and a bit more description, such as this interesting caption to one of them. "He felt the natural world is a reflection of divine perfection, and included not only animals in his designs, but also leaves, vines and trees. This influenced Chicago architects, including Louis Sullivan, who called the nascent Sagrada Familia 'spirit symbolized in stone.'"
A fine job of taking what could have been your own elevated version of a Yelp review and adapting it into a reflective, charming holiday treat!
Very enjoyable article. Truly appreciate the depth of your research and the openness of your consideration. Thank you!
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