Blob[p]Eefje's online sketchpad

There has been a lot of progress made in the construction of the Sagrada Familia for the last 10 years. I remember back then, that they managed to add part of the roof of the main nave to the original, which is built by Gaudi. Now the project team has added a lot more. Bravo! However, I could see that the additions do not have Gaudi’s touch. Not because that they are new, but because they are too systematic. Nothing is the same in the original design by Gaudi and the new additions carry too much of the same things. Of course it is cheaper when elements are standardized and a lot easier to construct. But, it is un-Gaudi.
Nor insisted that we took the stairs to go to the top of one of the towers. I insisted that we used the elevator that they installed fairly recently. I did go up to one of the lower towers 10 years ago (about 60-65m high) and they didn’t have elevators back then. And I knew that I would be puffing and fuming by the time we reached the top. But seeing the length of the queue for the elevator I though..what the heck. I needed some breaks a few times a long the way, but we managed to go up to the very top (about 75 m high). The view from the top was beautiful; we could see the whole Barcelona!
Going down was a bit trickier than going up. It might take less energy, but the narrow spiral staircase felt a bit more dangerous. It made me dizzy, which didn’t help at all. Despite my woozy head, we arrived on the ground floor safely and went out to look for somewhere to sit down. It was quite an exercise for our thighs and calfs, especially mine! While sitting down on a stone balustrade outside, I noticed this lovely lamp post across the street. Its design is a reflection of the top of the church’s towers. Barcelona is full with this kind of urban (design) details, lovely and elaborate at the same time. So I decided to sketch this one too.
According to what we read in the museum inside the church (basement), the church is expected to be finished by 2017. It’s now been more than 100 years. When it is really finished, I will want to visit it again.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2005 at 17:06 and is filed under Europe, Pen & Ink, Places, Travel, Watercolor. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.