Sagrada Família

This is the most grand and detailed piece of architecture I have ever seen. Wow!! Three grand façades that took my breath away! And an interesting history too. The crypt of the church was begun in 1882 by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, whose plan was for a Gothic revival church. Antoni Gaudi began work on the project in 1883 and assumed responsibility for its design, which he changed radically.

Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations. On the subject of the extremely long construction period, Gaudí is said to have remarked, "My client is not in a hurry." Gaudí devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was completed. After Gaudí's death the construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. The anticipated completion date of the church is in 2026 - the centennial of Gaudí's death.

I just read in the newspaper that there was an attempt to set fire to the building today. That would have been such a tragedy.

Photos are from wikipedia.org as a lot of building cranes and 1500 tourists in line kind of got in my way. :)