La Sagrada Família in the Eixample district is a crazed, towering cathedral and lifetime obsession of Gaudí, a unique symbol of the Catalan capital and a work in progress. Climb up inside its fantastical, undulating spires to see Gaudí's Workshop.
The building is a cross between a grotto and the most fantastical of medieval gothic constructions. Curving, elongated, flying buttresses leap from its sides, spiky on top of its soaring, skinny, punctured spires. Only one side was actually completed by Gaudí during his lifetime. The other, subject of constant controversy, is still being worked on. Climb the spires, grit your teeth for the vertigo and enjoy the stunning view.
The project started in the 19th century, when Josep Ma Bocabella i Verdeguer founded a Spiritual Association of Saint Joseph that promoted the construction of a temple dedicated to the Holy Family. The land was purchased in 1881, funded by devout supporters, and the first stone laid the following year.
The building has had various architects: Gaudí was the second, taking over in 1889 and presenting a project with five naves in the main nave and three naves in the transept, as well as a dome 170 metres high. Following his death in 1926 there were a series of crises, including fire and riots, which destroyed models and parts of the building.
During the 1940s, architect Francesc Quintana restored the burned crypt, but economic problems followed. The temple is funded by public donation and little by little it rises up, now more than 100 years in construction.
Visitors can see the façade of the Nativity and Passion, the cloister and the Portal of the Rosary, the museum and the exhibition L'obrador de Gaudí (Gaudí's Workshop), located at the School building, as well as walking up the towers of the Façade of the Nativity.