Sagrada Família

What it is

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, or simply Sagrada Família, is a Catholic church in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, it is the tallest church in the world. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a basilica. In 2005, parts of the Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and Crypt) were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under "Works of Antoni Gaudí".

Key facts

What it is

minor basilica, expiatory temple source

Created

1882-03-19 source

Country

Spain source

Located in

Sagrada Família source

Architect

Antoni Gaudí source

Creator

Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano source

Made from

stone, concrete, wood source

Length

90 m source

Height

172.5 m source

In the maker's own words

Web oficial de la Sagrada Família. Proveïdors oficials d'entrades. Les teves entrades al millor preu. Sense comissions ni despeses de gestió.

Origin and history

Sagrada Família was inspired by a bookseller, José María Bocabella, 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. It was to be an "expiatory temple", funded entirely by donations from persons seeking to counter a growing rejection of the Catholic Church and its values.

How it is made

The style of Sagrada Família is variously likened to Spanish Late Gothic, Catalan Modernism or Art Nouveau. While the style falls within the Art Nouveau period, Nikolaus Pevsner points out that, along with Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, Scotland, Gaudí carried the Art Nouveau style far beyond its usual application as a surface decoration.