Our Blog - Barcelona, Spain - March 2007

We went to Barcelona in March 2007. This was the first time for either one of us in Spain, so it was rather interesting. It seemed a little cooler than we thought it should be, but we got to eat lots of Tapas, which were all excellent.

Susan in front of the Sagrada Familia Temple. Originally designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi it has been under construction since 1882 and is projected to be completed in roughly 40 years. When completed the temple will be able to hold 15,000 people.

The Nativity facade is above one of the entrances to the Temple. This facade is meant to depict the entire life of Jesus through the numerous carvings on the facade.

On the opposite entrance from the Nativity facade you will find the Passion facade. The sculptures were begun in the 1990's and unlike the life-like carvings of the Nativity facade, the images are much harsher and severe.

Inside the Sagrada Familia one can see the unusual design of the ceiling and supporting structures. Gaudi often attempted to create buildings similar to shapes found in nature. In this case the columns are like tree trunks.

Throughout Barcelona there are sculptures and buildings from Gaudi. Here you can see two rather ornate examples of Gaudi's work.

A close up view of a portion of a building designed by Gaudi. The typical wave like forms are obvious as Gaudi shows his style that imitates shapes from nature.

Another example of Gaudi's buildings, this time showing the entire building. Once again the shapes are unlike those you will find in the square like design of most buildings.

Here Tom is in front of a portion of a wall that goes back to when the Romans had control of Barcelona. The wall is attached to a building from the middle ages.