Facade of the Passion: Introduction

Are you outside the church, in front of the Facade of the Passion now? Then let’s start the commentary. But first, find a place from which you can view the whole façade. Look, over there, by the scale model of the church! That’s a good place.

The building of this façade began almost 30 years after Gaudi’s death. Fortunately, the architect left his project well under way when he died and, thanks to this, his followers were able to faithfully complete their master’s plan.

After the Civil War and during the early years of the Franco dictatorship, work on the basilica practically came to a standstill, due to a lack of money and interest. Even Gaudi himself, who was a Catalanist, was strongly criticized and ridiculed by intellectuals aligned with sympathisers of the Franco regime, such as Eugenio d´Ors. Recognition of both the man and his work came from countries as far away as Japan or the United States, so in the 1950s it was decided to begin work on the Sagrada Familia once again.

In 1954, the first stone of this facade was laid. However work did not really begin until three years later, under the direction of the architect Francesc de Paula Quintana, a disciple of Gaudí, who had spent the years until then restoring the crypt and the scale models of the church, which had been damaged during the civil war. The dedication of Quintana and his assistants to Gaudí and the Sagrada Familia was such that they refused a wage for their work because, at that time, the church was going through one of its most severe financial crises.



(c) (R) 2013, MUSMon com S.L.
Text (a) Diego Laforga Marcos (2013)

Picture:
Source: Own work
Author: Carlos Marcos (2013)