La+Sagrada+Familia+7a

= __La Sagrada Familia__ =

**INTRODUCTION**
====La Sagrada Familia is a very famous, uncompleted church that has been being built since March 19, 1882. An international architect named Antoni Gaudí was the original designer. Gaudí was mostly an architect, but also designed furniture and other objects. He also worked worked in town planning and landscaping. He's known for using symbolism in his work which there is a lot of in La Sagrada Familia. Most of his work is in Barcelona, Spain. La Sagrada Familia is located in Barcelona.====

ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION
====There are many towers and pinnacles on La Sagrada Familia. One of the towers is the tree of life. It represents life and hope. When the church is finished it will have 18 towers. 12 towers will be dedicated to the 12 apostles, 4 to the evangelist. One will be dedicated to Jesus and another to Mary, which is Jesus's Mother. The Church will have 5 naves when completed. The church is one of the largest construction sites in Spain. It is yet to be completed because of it's unique designs. Also it was partially destroyed in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. During the last 15 years of Gaudi's life he made plans for the future becuase he wanted this church to be worked on when he was dead. He planned on part of the building for each generation yet to come. When he was alive he completed the Nativity Facade. The people after him worked on the Passion Facade. And today people are working on the interior vaults which are supposed to be completed in 2010(they are very close to completion). The building will be made out of reinforced concrete which is concrete with metal and or mesh to prevent from extra stresses. Also there have been 22 different kinds of rocks used on the church in the last 128 years.====

There will be 3 facades when competed.
====The main facade is the Glory Facade. It will face south-east and will be formed by 4 towers. It will be the front entrance to the church. Construction started not to long ago on this facade. As its name says, it will be dedicated to the Glory of Jesus Christ. The 4 towers that form the facade will be dedicated to: Saint Andrew, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and Saint James.====
 * GLORY FACADE**

**NATIVITY FACADE**
====Another major one is the Nativity Facade. It will face east and also is formed by 4 towers with 3 doorways. It will be dedicated to the birth of Jesus Christ. It was the first to be built and was started and completed during the time of Gaudi. It will be the side entrance. The 4 towers on this facade will represent: Saint Barnabas, Saint Simon, Saint Judas Thaddeus, and Saint Matthew.====

**PASSION FACADE**
====Next there is the Passion. Again this facade has 4 towers. It is dedicated to the passion, death, and reserection of Jesus. It will be the entrance on the west side of the building. This facade is the most recently built, it was started in 1954. The 4 towers on this facade are dedicated to: Saint James, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Thomas, and Saint Phillip.====

These facades add a very beautiful a part to the church.
**FUN FACTS AND EXTRA INFORMATION**

====The many towers on the building are more than 100 meters! The financing for the building is kept private. The building should be completed in about 30-80 years. The building is in the middle of Barcelona. Gaudi the first architect of the building died in 1925. This is Gaudi most famous work. The central nave is about 30 meters wide. WOW!!! Also there are 25 different jobs at the church(security,bricklayers,gardening,etc.). Those are just a few.==== ====﻿The architects that have worked on the church after Gaudi are: Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Francesc Quintana Vidal, Isidre Puig Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí, and Francesc de P. Cardoner i Blanch. These architects have followed the plans Gaudi made for them and they have made great progress on the church since Gaudi died.====

SYMBOLOGY
====All of Gaudi's work represents the Christian life but the best example is the church. For example there are 18 bell towers that represent Jesus, Mary, The 4 evangelists, and the 12 apostles. Almost every single part of the building symbolizes a part of Christianity. For example the Nativity Facade represents the birth of Jesus. The Passion Facade represents the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even the stained glass has Jesus words on it("I am the way, the truth and the life"). Basically Gaudi loved Jesus and lived his life serving him.====

==ANTONI GAUDI==

====He was born June/25/1852 in Reus, Riudoms. He was baptized the day after he was born at a local church. His dad was a coppersmith. He had a illness which caused him to rest for long periods of time at his house. One of Gaudi's hobbies was observing nature in Barcelona and neighboring cities. He also enjoyed drawing pictures of nature. Gaudi attended and studied at University of Barcelona. That is where he got his diploma for architecture. After college he did many jobs, such as working for and architect, and helped out his an old teacher with various jobs. But he waas mainly an architect. Some of his major projects beside this one were: the church at Colonia Guell, and the Casa Calvet. He built many more but these are some famous ones. But by far the church in Barcelona is the most popular and most well known. Antoni died in 1925. That is 85 years ago.====

**INDIVIDUALS**
====You can have a audioguide for children or a regular audioguide or you can have a real person to show you around. For the audioguides, the tour last 1 hour and 10 minutes. The tours start at 9:00 and stop at 30 minutes before closing time. For a real guide, the tours last about 50 minutes. Then there are audioguides for children. They are for ages 6-12. That tour lasts for around 40 minutes. All the tours provide an easy and enjoyable way for the individuals to navigate around and find different locations throughout the church.====

**GROUPS**
====﻿Then there are tours for groups. On this tour a group is considered 20 or more people. There are 6 different languages to choose from on the tour. There are tours for schools and a seperate tour for people not with a school. For school, the tour lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The tour is very educational. For people not with a school, the tour is about an hour. You learn quite a bit, but not as much as you would on a school tour.====

__**CITATIONS**__
"Gaudí: SAGRADA FAMÍLIA (Holy Family Church)." //GAUDÍ AND ART NOUVEAU IN CATALONIA//. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. [].

"The Sagrada Família." //La Sagrada Família//. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. [].

Gaudi, By Antonio. "La Sagrada Familia By Antonio Gaudi." //Essential Barcelona Tourist Information And Tourism Guide Spain 2010//. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. [].

Nature, By Mimicking. "Antoni Gaudí." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. [].

"Free Large Photos: Barcelona." //FreeLargePhotos.com//. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. [].

"Artifice Images - Architectural Stock Photography from Great Buildings and Beyond." //Architecture Design Architectural Images History Models and More - ArchitectureWeek Great Buildings//. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. [].

"Henri Bergius: Weblog: 2006-06-01 - 2006-06-30." //Henri Bergius: Bergie's Home Page and Weblog//. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. [].