You must visit here if in Barcelona

Advantages: Wonderous building fascinating history
Disadvantages: itas unfinished

...We had a camping holiday in Ribes de Freser in Catalonia at the base of the Spanish Pyrenees. I have wanted to visit Barcelona for several years and since the town we were in was on a direct rail route to Barcelona we decided to take a day of from walking the mountains and visit. The Train took us about 2 hours to get to Barcelona where we decided to visit the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is a Roman Catholic temple dedicated to the holy family, not a cathedral but it is very cathedral like. The Associació Espiritual de Devots de Sant Josep promoted the building of this temple followers bought a large piece of land and on St Joseph's day in 1882 the first stone was laid. There were disagreements with the first architect who then gave his notice and Gaudi his assistant became the architect. Antoni Gaudi was born in June...

mumsymary 07.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

One Erection The Tax Payer Won't Get Fleeced On!

Advantages: Well worth a visit, one of the main attractions in Barca
Disadvantages: It's still roughly 40 years till its finished

...Last year as I'm sure a lot of you know I celebrated my 21st birthday with a trip to Barcelona. The trip for me personally wasn't just about the drinking, although that was a large part of it. However I'd spent a lot of time during my 2 years in college studying various different architects and design styles. However there was one amongst them that really stood out and he is probably one of Barcelona's most famous residents. I am of course talking about Antoni Gaudí who captured my interest more than I thought any architect could. Having designed or had his influence used on a vast majority of the buildings in Barcelona, Guadi was a source of much interest. His most famous work however was the cathedral El Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Family). The construction of the giant cathedral is quite...

Andy.mack 17.01.2004 (24.02.2006) · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

The 'Unfinished' Church

Advantages: Beautiful building
Disadvantages: None

...I have just returned from a lovely holiday on the Costa Dorada, and while staying there I once again returned to visit the really lovely city of Barcelona. I visited Barcelona last year, and really wanted to visit the Unfinished Church (La Sagrada Familia) but did not have time as we were only there for the day and Barcelona is such a huge city it is impossible to see it all in such a short time. I loved my day in Barcelona but was disappointed not to have seen the chuch during my visit. So we visited again this year and at last were able to visit the Unfinished Church, which I absolutely loved! I must admit I do like to visit cathedrals and churches and am also a fan of the work of Antoni Gaudi, the Catalan architect who designed the church and whose work can be seen in many places in Barcelona. In Gaudi's works there are the most...

JEFFJEN 27.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

BS Cuatro - Unfinished Sympathy

Advantages: Everything, seriously!
Disadvantages: None, seriously!

...Antoni Gaudí was neither the first nor the last architect to work on the Sagrada Família, but his name will forever be associated with the gargantuan project. In 1926, during the construction of the gigantic church, Gaudí was run over and killed by a number 30 tram. When the ambulance arrived, no one knew who he was. An immensely sad story to kick off this opinion, but the tale of the "Church of the Holy Family" begins when Gaudí was still in his teens. In 1869, a devout Catholic bookseller decided to found a church for working class families. (This explains why it was known as the "Cathedral of the Poor" for a while.) A central plot was to be donated by a rich duchess, but she died unexpectedly, so a site further northeast had to be chosen. The architect Francisco de Paula del Villar offered to draw plans for free, and the first...

jefferson 29.04.2001 (09.05.2001) · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

Where the Earth joins with the Heavens

Advantages: stunning building
Disadvantages: incomplete, so many tourists

...I came here on school art trip, where we were given the task of studying the work of, Picasso, Miro, Dali and Gaudi. Gaudi's work can be found dotted all around Barcelona. On rooftops, in Parc Guell and probably most famously at the Sagrada Familia. There are several elements that Gaudi used in creating his..... I don't know quite what to call them....lets say architectural designs, these were: light and colour, style and technique and structure and form. Although the structure and form are obviously vital in a peice of architecture, however, the most important features in Gaudi's desgins were the use of light and colour, more importantly light. Light is used as if it were another element of the building - 'is a divine reflection that reflects the beauty of the World. It is the deconstruction of light into colours that gives...

Amy_Coppock 28.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

Stairways To Heaven

Advantages: Incredible and Individual, Full of History, Beautiful Fluid Detailing
Disadvantages: Unfinished by Gaudi

...In the heart of Barcelona, to the North of the Eixample district, you’ll find a most unusual sight. The pattern of five or six story buildings that dominate the skyline across much of Barcelona is suddenly and dramatically interrupted. For it is here that you will find what could possibly be one of the most interesting structures in the world, El Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia. Whilst much of Barcelona’s architecture is beautiful and full of character, it largely fades into nothingness when compared to the complexity and sheer scale of La Sagrada Familia. The eight towers of this church can be seen soaring over the surrounding structures from almost any reasonably high vantage point around the city and the Temple occupies an entire block between C/Provenca and C/Mallorca at their intersections with C...

amyturtle 21.04.2003 (21.08.2003) · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

What a spectacular sight

Advantages: Beautiful building, an inspiration to art
Disadvantages: It is a shame it is not finished

...rather then take in the masterpiece you could be disappointed with the tour. As the building is only three quarters done the back of the temple is like a shell waiting to be filled. The cranes do spoil the sight to be honest but that can’t b helped! The whole experience will take about an hour although opposite there is a wonderful quaint park that you can sit down, buy a sandwich and sit under the powerful awe of this historic land mark. It is in the Provenca Mallorca part of Barcelona near the Avinguda Diagnal. It is easily accessible by car, coach or bus. I thoroughly enjoyed this visit, I can not get over how fairy tale like the Temple do la Sagrada Familia was....

SamanthaM 02.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

The Unfinished Symphony.

Advantages: Architecture at its best.
Disadvantages: Not finished in the Gaudi style.

...Before Gaudi had a chance to finish the Sagrada Familia, he died in a tram accident. Gaudi was born in the 1840's and as a child was confined to bed by an illness, though it did not take long for his genius to be recognised and one can only imagine that the years that he was bedridden served to help his imagination soar. Later in school, he excelled in some subjects although mathematics was not one of them, which is surprising when you see the way in which he designs, and it is amazing to think that although he was qualified to go to Architectural school, his roots and his imagination played very strongly in the construction of many of his most known buildings, the calculations being made with small bags of sand weighted at different levels to see if the structures would work. His calculations paid off, and he began to design...

thingywhatsit 03.10.2004 (05.05.2005) · Read review
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Review of Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

A building with a split personality...

Advantages: Great views, fans of Gaudi and architecture will love it
Disadvantages: spiral steps are tiring and can be dangerous

......

tanga 22.02.2001 (24.02.2001) · Read review
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Review of Sagrada Família (Barcelona)

Rockin The Fam... but not rocking the mic...

Advantages: Some of Jay-Z's contributions, Some Listenable Material, Improvement over last 2 albums..
Disadvantages: Rocafella Records is putrid pile of waste

.... His subject matter has detetiorated horribly, as his songs used to feature amazing street narratives and hustling storytelling, they have transformed into egotistical self-endulged materialistic crap music. Besides the subject matter, his lyricism has also detetiorated since then, virtually losing his wordplay skills and relying solely on his remarkable delivery and somewhat clever punchlines to keep his "respect" as a lyricist, which is still worse than it used to be. Anyways, in 2000, the "Roc", as he likes to call his label, decides to release sort of a compilation album, showcasing all of the so-called "great" artists from Rocafella Records called The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. However, just before its release, Jay-Z decides to be egotistical and slap his name on the album, labelling it as his fifth studio album, with tons of guest...

bigdiship-hop 21.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Dynasty Roc La Familia (2000- ), The [PA] - Jay-Z