by Sagrada Família in danger
I still remember well my art school days and the many hours of Art History classes, viewing thousands of slides of art and architecture, sometimes sleepily but often excited. The courses were taken by students of art, architecture and interior design. Architecture has always interested me and Antoni Gaudi’s fantastic creations fascinated me. I still have only seen them in pictures.
La Sagrada Família, a basilica in Barcelona, Spain is one of those incredible projects. The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Still unfinished after 40 years, it is now in danger of being destroyed by the construction of a tunnel for a high speed train going underneath!
I find it incredibly shocking and disheartening to hear about developers destroying art works. I think of the vast area of incredible aborigine rock art of the Burrup peninsula in Australia currently threatened by gas developers as another example.
There’s a campaign to stop the construction and even a YouTube film of what the potential disaster may look like.
Thanks to Viides Rooli (in Finnish) for the link.
October 31, 2007 in Culture, History, Other artists by Marja-Leena
Here in Germany, too, some old historic sites have been demolished because of material interests of certain institutions or parties. It is a shame that those old buildings will only survive in photographs for future generations to look at.
Are there no Intellegent leaders around the world?? We humans are truly a folly!!
Olivia and Joan – yes, some humans seem to lose sense when it comes to monetary gain over the preservation of their art and history!
Oh, this is terrible. They must be crazy, the church is the single biggest tourist feature of the city. I’m off to sign the petition now and will put a link to the video on my blog hoping to get a little more support. I feel particularly involved after this trip last year.
Anna, thanks for the link to your wonderful photos which I’d seen before and enjoyed again in light of this potential tragedy. I’ve so wanted to see it too.
It’s hard to believe that anyone would actually put the Sagrada Familia at risk. That’s simply insane. It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in Spain and much beloved by the Spanish people, so I just can’t believe that anyone would be stupid enough to that threaten that. Surely there must be thought going into how to deal with this.
Construction has been going on on the Sagrada Familia since 1882, with a five-year break between 1935 and 1940, during the civil war. That’s 120 years… just like the cathedrals of old!
Miguel, wonderful to have you visit! It does seem much too unbelievable. I hope the protests from all over thw world will make them stop and think more clearly. It really is that amazing that it’s taking as long as in the olden days? Have you seen it?
Yes, Marja-leena, I saw it in 1988 when I traveled to Spain with my girlfriend at the time. Two of the towers that you now see hadn’t been built yet. I was an architect at the time and for me it was one of the must-sees of my life. It was very exciting walking around on the construction grounds and watching sculpters chipping away at the stone. The only thing though is that the (greater) sections which were not supervised by Gaudi himself seem a lot cruder and less fluidly designed, often quite angular, which is definitely not Gaudi’s style. I think that money and time concerns probably made the builders gloss over a lot of details that Gaudi himself probably would never have approved of. Still, it is a truly amazing building, one of the greatest architectural inspiriations in human history.
Thanks so much Miguel, for your personal observations, so meaningful since you’ve been there and with your architect’s eye. That you call it ‘one of the greatest architectural inspirations in human history’ makes this threat all that more alarming. I’m wondering what Gaudi is thinking about all of this, wherever he is… probably rolling in his grave.