Barcelona

This was our day to visit Barcelona. We stopped first at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalonia atop Montjuic, the mountain that dominates the city’s skyline. There we had a panoramic view of this amazing place.

Sprawled along the shore of the Mediterranean, Barcelona is a beautiful city located in a 3 mile wide area between the Collserola mountains to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. It is the largest city in Catalonia and the second largest in Spain—over 1.6 million in the city, and 4.5 million in the metropolitan area.

Barcelona is an important economic center. With its large port and diversified industry, it contributes over 20% of Spain’s GDP and functions as a free trade area between the EU and its Mediterranean neighbors. Important industries there include food, chemicals, motor vehicles, energy and pharmaceuticals.

In the afternoon, Judy and I visited Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), the basilica designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. As is true of many great artists, Gaudi was ahead of his time and initially his work was not appreciated by the people of Barcelona. He preferred curved lines rather than straight lines. He decorated the facility with natural elements—frogs and lizards for gargoyles, leaves and trees for door facings, and natural light for illumination. He decorated the spires with fruit and designed the central nave of the church to look like a forest. Sagrada Familia has now become one of the most visited tourist sites in all of Europe, testifying to the genius of Gaudi’s vision.

The basilica forms the shape of a Latin cross with three facades depicting the events in the life of Christ: the Nativity facade to the East, the Passion facade to the West, and the Glory facade to the South still to be completed. The Nativity and the Passion facades form the arms of the cross. Carved figures on the outside in each facade depict the scenes in Jesus‘ life.

When finished, Sagrada Familia will have eighteen towers, each with an important religious significance. In the middle is The largest and most significant tower, the Christ tower. Surrounding it on all four sides are the four Evangelists towers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Twelve of the towers are dedicated to the Apostles and the eighteenth tower to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Light is of primary importance within the basilica. Beautiful stained glass along the sides and at the top of the building allow natural light to flow into the sanctuary. The colors of the light change from season to season and the different colors have religious significance—reds and yellow on one side depicting the passion and blue and green on the other representing the nativity.

Judy and I delighted in seeing the amazing colors that filled the sanctuary when the sun came out this afternoon. They seemed to change and move along the floors and columns almost as if the colors themselves were alive. I thought of it as a natural light show demonstrating the glory and beauty of the faith this amazing building represents.

From the start, we imagined this visit to be one of the highlights of our trip and were certainly not disappointed. It is an amazing facility visited by thousands each year and we felt fortunate to make our own pilgrimage here.