A House of Prayer? The Basilica of Sagrada Familia
by Randall B. Smith, appearing in Volume 46
The Basilica of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) in Barcelona hosts some 14,000 to 16,000 visitors per day and some 2.8 million people every year, making it one of the most visited churches in the world. If you want to visit, you had better make arrangements days or weeks in advance. Tripadvisor ranks the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia #1 out of 1,213 things to do in Spain. But by “thing to do,” they mean “visit it,” not “go to Mass there.” And that’s a problem.
Construction of the church began in 1882 with Francisco de Paula del Villar as the chief architect, who had designed a grand Gothic church. Within the year, Villar had resigned and was replaced by Antoni Gaudí, who transformed the project completely. Gaudí’s style is sometimes described as “modernist,” but it is a modernism very different from the minimalist modernist style that would become characteristic of modernists such as Le Corbusier, Adolf Loos, and Walter Gropius. Rather than the whitewashed walls and square corners that characterized the buildings of the French and German modernists, Gaudí’s “modernist” designs were notable for their bold curves and richly colored walls and façades. And in all of his buildings, one finds expressions of Gaudí’s deep Catholic faith. The famous Casa Batlló, for example, expresses on the roof the famous legend of Saint George and the dragon.
When construction began, the site of the Sagrada Familia was an empty field in a working-class neighborhood. The site is still a good distance from the city center, perhaps twenty minutes or more by car or bus. It was to be a beautiful church for the working poor in that area, financed by their small donations. For this reason, among others, construction progressed slowly, so when Gaudí was tragically killed by a tram while crossing the street in 1926, the project was less than a quarter complete.
Construction continued slowly after Gaudí’s death and was interrupted entirely by the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, anarchists set fire to the crypt, destroying many of Gaudí’s original plans for the church. In 1939, Francesc de Paula Quintana took over management of the construction based on recollections and reconstructions of Gaudí’s original plans. The result is that one can discern easily the parts of Sagrada Familia completed during Gaudí’s life and those that have been built in the years since. The spirit is similar, but the materials and style are distinguishable.
Sagrada Familia is sometimes described as “the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.” In 2014, it was announced that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death. If you visit, guides will tell you that, if you visit in 2026, you will be told that the church will be completed in 2030. And if you visit in 2030, you will be told 2035. “The truth is,” our guide informed us, “it will never be completed.” One can understand such pessimism given how slowly construction progresses and how long the project has taken already. And even if by some miracle the construction of the basilica is completed by 2026, Gaudí’s original plan included a large plaza in front of the main entrance. Not merely is this part of the church still under construction, but since construction has for decades moved so slowly, apartment buildings were built in the empty space where the plaza is supposed to go. The understanding was that they would be torn down when the basilica is finished. Many people bought places assuming the basilica would not be finished for decades, perhaps ever. So now they’re suing to stay. No one knows how long it will take to sort all that out. So, for now, and God only knows for how long, Sagrada Familia is still the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.
Given the uniqueness of the building, some people will admire it, but others will not. George Orwell, for example, is said to have called it “the most hideous building in the world.” Readers can look at photographs or arrange a visit and make their own judgments. But allow me to offer two reflections that touch more on what the church has become rather than on the quality of its architecture, pro or con.
I asked two architect friends recently when they thought the first Mass was celebrated in the main nave of the upper church. There has been a standard Gothic-style crypt church in the basement for decades, designed by the original architect. Both knew that construction began in 1882. Both were aware that construction on large medieval churches often went on for centuries, but Mass usually continued while construction was underway. So one guessed “late nineteenth century,” the other “early twentieth century.” The correct answer is 2010 when Mass was celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. Knowing how deep Gaudí’s faith was—you can see it expressed in everything he built—my suspicion is that Gaudí himself would be disappointed that Mass was not celebrated in the nave of his beloved church, to which he devoted so much of his life, for nearly a hundred years and now, only once per week.
As an artist, I imagine Gaudí would be pleased that his church has so many people from around the world eager to see it. But I suspect Gaudí might also be disappointed that Sagrada Familia has become more of an object of aesthetic admiration than a temple of worship devoted to Mary and the Holy Family.
Could it be both? It could be. But it’s not clear that it is. Do the people in the community for whom it was planned go to Mass there? It’s hard to imagine they can get in on a regular basis. There is only one Mass during the week, on Sundays at 9 a.m., and the church authorities will admit only 500 people. If you don’t get in the line early, you won’t get in. It’s hard to imagine that many working-class people in Barcelona make the effort regularly. It has become a “church” mostly for tourists.
To put this into context, the modest basilica at the University of Notre Dame can admit 1,000 people. Sagrada Familia is many times larger but admits only 500 for Mass. At Sagrada Familia, there are risers along the side of the nave that supposedly can accommodate 1,000 choir members. It’s not clear that they’re ever used.
Gaudí reportedly designed the building to be reminiscent of a pipe organ. He wanted it to be suffused with music, and he wanted that music to waft through the neighborhood, drawing people to Mass. This is one reason he designed it with so many bell towers. But it is not a place of music at present, nor is it a place focused on the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Quite the contrary, Sagrada Familia seems at present more like a place where it is hard to imagine how Mass could intrude its way into a busy, bustling tourist destination.
It is not uncommon to have bustling activity around major cathedrals. But one can go to Mass at most of them and get the sense that it is a house of God and a place for the sacrifice of the Mass first and a tourist site second. This is simply not the experience one has at present of Sagrada Familia.
And yet, there is more to be said for the place. The basilica hosts, as I mentioned above, 14,000 to 16,000 visitors per day. Many of them don’t get inside. So what they see—and often have described to them by guides—are the amazing sculptures on the eastern and western façades. The sculptures on the “Nativity Façade,” facing east, include the birth of Jesus, the Holy Family, the shepherds, the three Magi, and the angels. The sculptures on the “Passion Façade,” facing west, represent Christ’s Passion, death, and Resurrection and depict scenes from the last week of Christ’s life, including the shame of Peter, the kiss of Judas, and Christ on the crucifix. As with the basilica itself, opinions will vary about the quality of these sculptures. It is said that the people of Barcelona disliked the more “modernist” sculptures on the Passion façade when they were unveiled between 1987 and 2009.
But what one cannot deny is that the sculptures on both façades do a remarkable job of telling the Gospel story. So whatever one thinks of the aesthetic of Sagrada Familia—and again, some will love it, some will not—it is undeniably an exceptional tool of evangelization for the thousands of visitors who make the trek to the outskirts of the city to visit it each year. This, I believe, would please Gaudí immensely. And yet, I continue to think that the absence of frequent Mass inside the basilica would cause him great sadness, as it is so clearly contrary to his desire for what Sagrada Familia was to become.
Resolving this problem would be fairly straightforward, however, even if somewhat complex given the large crowds. But no matter the difficulty involved, Mass should be celebrated in the upper church every day, perhaps several times each day considering how many people flock to the church. The basilica should reverberate continually with the sounds of the liturgy being celebrated.
The sculptures on the outside of the church tell an important story. But that story only becomes a living reality inside the church during the celebration of the Mass. Hundreds of churches throughout history have had the privilege of becoming pilgrimage sites. Some still are. But the key to their ultimate success has always been balancing the desires of the crowds to “ooh” and “aah” at the beauty of the place with the goal of drawing them more deeply into the life of Christian faith, hope, and charity. Sagrada Familia needs to find that balance. Frequent daily Mass and confession would not detract from the work of the basilica; it should be seen as its ultimate raison d’être. So perhaps our guide was at least partially right. Sagrada Familia will not be finished until Mass is celebrated reverently there every day.