By: Tia Ellison
Sagrada Familia is not only one of the most well known churches in the world, but it is also the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world. In 1866, St, Joseph started building the church. Fast forward to a little over a decade later, renowned architect, Antoni Guadi, took over and began building the church of his dreams. He put his blood, sweat, and tears into this extreme project. At some point, he even lived in the church. He did not stop working. His idea was to have this church be a way of teaching the catholic religion, but through architecture. He knew that this church was going to be something very big and also knew that it was going to take at least 200 years to complete. He put his faith and trust into the future upcoming architects to carry out his dream of what he envisioned Sagrada Familia to be.
After visiting La Sagrada Familia myself, I truly think Gaudi would be incredibly impressed. Even though some of the original pieces of stone were broken overtime, they were still fixed and handcrafted beautifully. To this day, La Sagrada Familia still remains unfinished. Architects are still taking their time to finish what can easily be described as a masterpiece. It is expected for Sagrada Familia to finally be finished in the year of 2026. Once completed, I believe it is going to be the most beautiful church in the entire world. I am very excited to see the finished architecture.
My time and experience at La Sagrada Familia is just so hard to put into words. It is easily one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Although I am not Catholic, I am spiritual and grew up in a Christian household. So hearing the stories behind the architecture was just so moving to my spirit. Every piece of artwork that I saw of Jesus Christ hung up on the cross actually brought tears to my eyes. One of the things that moved me the most was the stone artwork outside of the church, which I believe was explained to be Jesus’ last days. Whoever carved the stone on that piece of artwork is extremely gifted. They captured the expressions of Jesus’ people very well. They were seen to be grieving, knowing the fate of Jesus to come. The story behind it was truly moving and it just reminded me again that Jesus did this for us, which just made me feel ten times more emotional and filled me with such gratitude.
While examining the artwork outside, we also were told the story of the kiss of Judas which was also carved in stone. I never heard the story of the kiss of Judas before, but I learned that it’s actually about how Judas betrayed Jesus. He betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. My heart felt for Jesus in the moments I was learning how he was betrayed and just all in all how he was treated, and what he went through.
In La Sagrada Familia, we were able to go to the altar where you’re able to just sit in silence, pray, or just simply talk to God. The altar was absolutely beautiful. There were candles lit and benches filled with people. There were so many people in the room, but so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone just sat with bowed heads and took the time to feel Jesus’ presence and connect spiritually to him. It was one of the most out of the world experiences I’ve ever had and truly a feeling that I can’t even completely explain. I don’t usually go to church, only because I don’t believe in all of the Christian beliefs to the fullest extent and don’t completely agree with how they think— so being able to share this with other people that just love God was just beautiful and something that I feel I genuinely needed.
To conclude, I believe Gaudi to be one of the best architects to ever walk this earth. His vision, his way of thinking, his creativity, was just incredible and something hard to replicate. He produced something so amazing and something that is going to touch souls every single day. It is also so mind blowing to me that man did this. They took big pieces of stone and carved it into astonishing, historical pieces. The amount of effort, patience, and time this had to have taken. It’s just so unbelievable what us humans are capable of. I am so happy I’ve gotten the opportunity to learn the history behind La Sagrada Familia and got to see Gaudi’s work right in front of me. It was seriously a once in a lifetime experience.