The one site I was most looking forward to seeing was the Sagrada Familia, but it almost didn't happen. I bought tickets several months in advance and had them with me. We had a scheduled entry time and arrived early. When our time arrived, I went to the Entrada and was told we had group tickets and needed to go to the group entrance. I went to the group entrance and was told I need to get the guide approval. I didn't know what this meant, but went where I was told. An amazing employee took time to help me figure things out. We had special group tickets which require a certified guide. I had vague recollections that when I purchased the tickets I believed that I met those criteria that were provided. When I presented myself at the door, she didn't realize I was a university professor (I was not wearing my WSU name badge), and she said we had to have a certified guide. I didn't remember that I counted because of my position, so she gave me the number of several guides we could call to get us in. I was panicking at this point because our entry window was 15 minutes and was basically up. She said she'd talk with her boss. We called one person, but they were not available. Then she asked me "are these students?" I said yes, university students. She asked if I was a professor and I said yes. She said Oh, then it's ok, but we need your credentials. Well, I didn't have a business card with me, I didn't have my faculty ID (it doensn't get me a discount anywhere). I finally was allowed to pull up my university webpage and show who I was. Problem resolved, and we were allowed to go in.
I got a master audio guide and a small microphone I could use to talk to our group, but didn't understand the directions, so I just pushed play for the audio guide and we all followed the tour around together. It worked fine.
We approached the bascilica from quite a distance, having been in Guell Park in the morning and seeing it from afar.
This is the Facade of the Navity. The entire exterior of the church is the bible with intricate details of many bible stories. Not all of them are visible because there is still so much construction going on. The entrance is on this side and this is where the guided tour starts.
Christ's birth on the central pillar to the main entrance.
With the Shepherds on one side
The entry into the building is nothing less than stunning. The vaulted ceilings soar above your head. The design is simple, but also complex. It is not ornate the way many old cathedrals are with lots of side chapels, paintings, multiple alters, sculptures, etc. All of the fancy sculpture work is on the exterior. The primary decoration is the rainbow colored stain glass windows.
The pillars are made of different kinds of stone based on the weight that they have to bear. The darker reddish ones are the strongest stone and will bear the full weight of the central tower when it is complete (scheduled for 2026). Most of the stone is white and looks so fresh and new, not dis colored from centuries of pollution.
The pillars branch up toward the top into several pillars, all of which help distribute the weight of the ceiling and towers. They are designed to look like trees.
The east side is more blues and greens with the sunrise, and the west side is oranges and reds with the sunset
East side
West side. You can see the very dynamic contours of the stone work. It's not scuptures of people, but it is definitely sculpted and quite mesmerizing to look at.
The names of places on the windows are all of the religious pillgrimage sites around the world.
This is a poster of the actual door on the south side of the building (main entry to the nave) that is currently hidden by construction equipment. It is a metal door with the full text of the Lord's Prayer in Latin, and to either side are the opening phrases of the prayer in over 50 different languages.
This is the West facade. You can see the cranes working on the four towers that will surround the center tower (not yet visible). The center tower will be just a few feet shy of the top elevation of Montjuic, out of respect for God and his creation.
I was able to purchase tickets in advance to go up in the towers on the Passion (west) side of the bascilica. There are very limited tickets, so I was very happy to get enough for the whole group on the day that we were visiting. You can see from the diagram the route we took. Elevator up to a landing, the up a few steps to the outside tower with a 270 view of the city.Then across a narrow open walkway to the inner tower, down a few stairs and across to the covered walkway at the level where the resurrected Jesus was on the exterior of the facade. Then we continued down many many rotations of stairs to the bottom again.
These are the two towers. The top bridge between them is the walkway we crossed. You can just see the figure of Jesus in the bottom left corner where we exited onto the covered walkway. We crossed back to the exterior tower by a lower walkway below the first.
This is looking up from the first open bridge between the two towers.
This is some of the beautiful mosaic work above the bridge. What makes it particularly beautiful is how colorful it is against the white stone.
Our group going out on the walkway.
This is the walkway between the two towers, looking up from a lower walkway.
Judas' betraying kiss
Peter's mourning after his three denials before the cock crowed.
Pilate weighs the decision of what to do with Jesus.
The guards roll die for his clothes.
The crucifixion
The burial
Christ reigns on high - placed above the other images in the pictures above. This was the view from the middle walkway when we went up in the tower.
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