More than 100 years in the making, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is a modern-day miracle, writes Helen Van Berkel Beauty. Majesty. Genius.
Absolute bonkers. The unbelievable scale of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is a visual and visceral blow, a sensory overload. Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece tops every “must-see” list of not only Spain and Barcelona but surely of Europe.
It is a confection of such magnificence that it takes more than your eyes to fully see. The cathedral was only a few blocks from my AirBnB in Barcelona and I walked past it daily on my way to anywhere. I couldn’t set foot on the Ave de Gaudi that led directly to the nativity facade without pausing to admire and absorb the architectural miracle that is the Sagrada Familia.
Because you don’t just look at the 18 towers as they reveal themselves before you, you absorb them: their detail, their sculptures, their shapes, their colours, and every time you see more details. I walked towards and around the fabulous construction every day and I felt like I had to ready myself to enter its portals. And on the third day I was ready.
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