The soaring space of the Sagrada Familia was a folly that time has made wise
People take pictures in front of Sagrada Familia Basilica designed by architect Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain, on July 9, 2021.While most Canadians remain stuck at home, we can still dream about the cultural destinations we once embarked on pre-pandemic ... and will soon experience again. Here, Globe Arts writers reflect on their favourite international cultural memories, and what the necessary domestic equivalent might be.
It had taken work to get here: tickets booked online weeks in advance for an early slot that might beat the crowds, a strategically located rental a short walk away and a half-hour wait once we got to the entrance. But we had finally hit the bullseye of our target, a cultural pilgrimage to the hometown of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.None of this was my idea. My husband and son were impressed by Gaudi’s architecture and excited to visit one of Europe’s hippest capitals.
That book doesn’t mention the basilica project Gaudi took over in 1883, but I remember being taught, from dim black-and-white slides, that the Sagrada Familia was a folly that would never be completed, a site vandalized during Spain’s Civil War when Gaudi’s plans were all destroyed. It seemed a doomed creation, impressive in its ambition perhaps, but as peripheral as Janson considered La Pedrera.
No matter. Gaudi’s experimentation with natural forms – borrowing the shapes of tree trunks or honeycombs for their structural strength – may have seemed eccentric in 1883 or 1983; today they look environmentally prescient.
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