Sagrada Familia, Exterior Details
Sagrada Familia is not completed. We’ll see it in full beauty only in 2026 as it is said on billboard inside the church. However even now it takes time to see all the exterior details. Numerous sculptures and decorative elements adorn the church. Pretty much the same impression I had by seeing Strasbourg Cathedral.
The Sagrada Familia Magic Square
In squares of order 4 where the numbers run sequentially from 1-16 the magic constant (the sum of a single line, row or diagonal) is 34, but Subirachs’ square does not contain the numbers 12 or 16 (see image, above). Instead, 10 and 14 are included twice, making a magic constant of 33, the age of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion.
Sagrada Familia – Church of Light and Air
Nonreligious people generally perceive all the temples, cathedrals and churches as of memorial to architecture and fine arts. Most of them are really a treasure of world architecture. Basically they were created by certain canons, although each of these structures have a unique recognizable “face”. Who, for example, does not know the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, or St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the famous Cologne Cathedral, the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican and other outstanding architectural monuments?! However, getting into the twilight of one of them, most of the people feel themselves as a grain of sand, the bearer of sin and eternal debtor to the whole earthly life. The only hope and symbol of the future happy life is the light in the high arches of the cathedral.
The brilliant creation of an outstanding artist Antonio Gaudi – Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, leaves in the visitor’s mind and soul absolutely different feeling. The church is permeated with light and filled with air. The sun’s rays, penetrated through the huge stained windows and rosettes, play the colourful game of light and shades on the numerous interior details. While Sun goes around the church during the day the picture appears in different guises. All this play of light creates the sensation of flight. Life is going on here and now, and we should be happy now, without waiting for a future that may never come.
Sagrada Familia is a hymn to Human in his unity with God!
World in your eyes 