Sagrada Familia: Barcelona's Infamous Unfinished Church

today's video covers a spanish church that's been under construction for more than a hundred years and if you want a great pair of shoes that'll stay comfortable for a hundred years that was a terrible transition but this video is brought to you by vesey who do make fantastic sneakers or as we would call them in the uk trainers or maybe you're more of a boo person in the winter because you're like well boots are waterproof well vessy is the best of both worlds giving your feet unparalleled comfort and dryness regardless of the conditions outside i'm actually wearing a pair of these right now ah let me just pop that off now some of you might be saying oh yes simon i've heard about water resistant shoes before but guess what vesey isn't water resistant it is waterproof look at this footage i shot of me running water over these shoes they are waterproof and my sock is totally dry it's also very easy to clean it's also made from a sustainable material called dynatex which is this very 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brainchild of a tortured genius whose work fills the city that he loved so much yet his magnum opus has received more hate and more criticism than anything else he created his devotion to this project became so extreme that he lived in a small home on its premises until he died when he was broke and decrepit and old the church has survived a handful of architects multiple attempts to deface or destroy it as civil war the destruction of its plans and decades of bickering among politicians and artists still it stands as an icon of its home and will continue to do so far into the future whether or not it's ever completed so let's dive in to the sagrada familia in 1872 a small-time bookseller from barcelona named joseph maria barca bella took a religious pilgrimage to italy the capital of his catholic faith his pilgrimage had a significant impact on his face and he grew jealous of the countless beautiful cathedrals and basilicas throughout italy he was particularly inspired by the basilica of loretto a relatively small church in a small italian town renowned among the pious for enshrining the house that the blessed virgin mary may have lived in while visiting this basilica bachabala was struck by the lack of notable churches in his hometown he decided then and there that he was personally going to change that now boca bear wasn't a wealthy man but he had extensive connections throughout the local church because of his role starting the spiritual association of devotees of saint joseph he returned to barcelona determined to make his dream come true so he spread the word of his plans and began to collect donations from locals who also wanted to see his spectacular vision brought to life with the collections he purchased a large swath of land in the catalonian city and contracted an architect named francisco de paula de villar vyar was the official diocesan architect meaning he was officially sanctioned by the catholic faith to design churches vr's design followed traditional standards for gothic revival churches as he was under strict direction from the local religious officials to ensure that his church did not overshadow the basilica of barcelona work began in 1882 but disagreements over material costs quickly led to a falling out between vr and boca bear so in 1883 vr left the project and a young upstart named antoni gaudi was placed in charge when antoni gardi took over the project in 1883 he was little more than an up-and-comer in the world of spanish architecture he completed a few relatively small projects in the years prior including a pharmacy a textile mill and a few pieces of furniture for a wealthy family while insignificant compared to his modern legacy these pieces must have impacted the local community because 1883 was when his career took off besides the sagrada familia gowdy also began work on the famous cassavesands in el caprijo that same year one thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that gowdy had a unique vision and the ability to draw from many different influences to create something eye-catching and often times magnificent gowdy immediately trashed all of vr's designs and started from scratch though his work was informed by those who came before him gowdy hated the recent explosion of revivalist architecture seeing it as tired and played out after all what's significance was an architect who simply re-did what had already been done so like all of his work he set out to create something grand and bizarre word of this new architect's ambitious plan reached catholic authorities in barcelona and they responded by again discouraging gowdy and bayer borka from building anything grander than the local basilica the gaudi despite his enduring devotion if not obsession with the church did not heed their warnings berboca was willing to allow the master to pursue his craft however he saw fit even if that meant completely casting aside the image of the basilica that had inspired it though gowdy completed a handful of incredible pieces between 1883 and 1906 he seemed to always see sagrada familia as the most significant work he would ever do in his later life he dedicated nearly every waking moment to the church's construction and in the moment when he was not redesigning or managing construction he could be found walking the streets or entering churches to collect arms from faithful members to continue the construction project as gowdy grew older his influences became even more rooted in two of his favorite things religion and nature he determined to make the entire church a reflection of the beauty of the world that god had created it would depict images and stories from christ's life throughout the architectures exterior and interior his plans included three facades called the nativity passion and glory each meant to depict a different portion of christ's life the glory would be the principal facade and would celebrate the celestial glory of jesus christ and his path to return to god in heaven the passion would be the most austere modeled after the human skeleton as it was meant to depict the crucifixion gaddy wanted this section to be jarring and intense reflecting the pain that could be inflicted on the human body finally the nativity would depict the story of christ's birth and include images that celebrated the creation of life it would face northeast so that it could bask in the glory of the rising sun each day and it would include what would become gowdy's trademark trait of ornamental displays and outlandish lines and shapes gowdy knew that he would not live long enough to oversee the construction of the entire church saying that my client god is not in a hurry so he focused his time on building nativity facade as he felt that its optimism and ornamentality would inspire local's devotion to see the project through right to the end he saw it as the tone setter for the entire church and knew that if he began with a passion facade its ugly appearance would discourage continued engagement from locals and donors aside from the three glorious facades perhaps gowdy's most striking design feature was the eighteen spires representing the twelve apostles the four evangelists the mother mary and jesus christ the tallest spire would be topped by a cross and it would stand at 172.5 metres that's 566 feet the specific height was of extreme importance because it would make sagrada familia the tallest church in the world but ensure that it would remain small at the montejuic hill in barcelona as gaudi wanted to ensure that his creation did not stand taller than gods in fulfillment of his own prophecy gowdy would not live long enough to see the first facade finished dying in 1926 four years before the nativity facade's completion in his final years on earth gowdy lived inside the unfinished church now he is buried in its crypt alongside bayer boca the man who picked him for the project following his death thousands of barcelonans flooded the street to show appreciation for the artist who gave life to their city [Music] following gowdy's death a new architect was placed in charge of the sagrada familia project but his tenure would not last long as spain's descendant of civil war stopped all progress on the church anarchists wreaked havoc on barcelona's infrastructure throughout the civil war and even broke into the unfinished chapel but once inside they refused to lay a finger on the structure instead only destroying gowdy's models for the rest of the church this action led to speculation as to the anarchists intentions were they attempting to halt construction on the building so that its image would always reflect gowdy's work or did they understand that damaging the local icons creation would ruin any good will they may have built up with the city's populace in the years following the civil war fragments of gowdy's design were recovered and pieced together as best as possible and work continued construction on the skeleton-inspired passion facade began in 1954 and continued until 1976 when it was completed work on the interior and the spires continued for the next several decades and the final facade was startled in 2002. throughout all of this process the controversy surrounding the building just refused to go away the most common issue is the simple fact that the building hasn't been completed in well over a hundred years locals are tired of construction noises and they claim that the church looks fine just the way that it is there were political obstacles as well since the team in charge of construction had never managed to secure a building permit when this was pointed out in 2018 after 135 years of unapproved development the city government determined that the project owed 36 million euros in back paid to the city about 41 million to top it all off the church was the target of an arsonist's attack on april 19 2011 though thankfully the fire was contained within 45 minutes despite the decades of contention construction has progressed glacially yet steadily on november 7 2010 pope benedict xvi consecrated the church in front of a congregation of 6500 people now zagrada familia is barcelona's most popular tourist attraction regularly welcoming 3 million visitors every year with an additional estimated 10 million visiting the area nearby to catch a glimpse of the iconic structure without waiting in line for hours to see the inside while the outside is an absolute spectacle to behold the interior is perhaps even more magnificent though admittedly less iconic trading in biblical motifs for those inspired by catalonia's forests not only does it follow the exterior example of shunning straight lines and right angles but it is almost entirely devoid of any flat surfaces instead it incorporates parabolic arches hyperbolic volts and slanted helical columns gowdy felt that these shapes better inspired the reverence he felt when standing in the middle of a large wood for the most overwhelming example of this intention visitors stand beneath the central nave's 45 meter 148 feet tall volts and look upward at the multi-colored concrete forest the columns branch outward as they ascend like the oak trees that fill barcelona streets their surfaces unfold to include more and more sides often starting with a square base evolving into an octagon as the column rises then a 16-sided form and eventually a circle if you want to see the interior you'll have to purchase a ticket and wait in line but you'll be giving to a good cause the remaining construction is entirely financed by ticket sales [Music] as of 2020 the projected completion date for the structure is 2026 though many observers believe this is unreasonably soon as the glory facade has yet to be completed and its construction may require the demolition of nearby buildings furthermore only eight of 18 spires have been completed with the largest one yet to be built of course modern technologies have sped up construction but perhaps influenced by the building's 137-year process the common belief is that construction will go on for at least a few more decades the current architect a man named luis bonnet igari seemed to have a similar mindset to gowdy stating that he doesn't feel the church will be completed during his lifespan even once construction is complete many decorative pieces will still need to be added including several hundred sculptures by the artist joseph maria subaruch of course sobarak statues have received their fair share of criticism as well especially for their grotesque portrayal of famous biblical scenes including christ's crucifixion like gowdy subarak plans to dedicate the remainder of his life to completing his contributions and he now lives in the tiny on-site residence that the original architect once called home [Music] while the sagrada familia is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and unique churches in the entire world it is also perhaps the most engaging springboard of discussion surrounding the role of architecture as art particularly with long-term projects like this one given his saint-like stature throughout barcelona many locals believe that the church should serve to honor gowdy's vision but the question is how best to do that from the architect's death in 1926 some locals have urged an end to the construction claiming that the best way to preserve its creator's legacy is to halt all progress as it was when he died of course the continued construction has ruined any chance of that others believe that the best way to honour the artist is to follow through with what remains of his original design but opponents point out that we have no clue what the original design was given that the only existing models were pieced together from fragments that survived the spanish civil war the remaining plans are at best an estimation of what gowdy originally wanted yet gowdy's view may be the most romantic of all after all he was fully aware of his inability to ever finish the structure and he hinted on occasion that he preferred to allow future artistic and architectural visionaries to assert their own styles and tastes into the building in this way it would never stand as a monument to antoni gaudi but it would stand as a monument to the religion that it is dedicated to and the city that it calls home so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that like button below don't forget to subscribe also if you'd like to support mega projects why not support our fantastic sponsor vessie special deal on those shoes there is a link below and thank you for [Music] watching you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 168,714

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Id: KBlbOLOmKyg

Length: 15min 30sec (930 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020