La Sagrada Familia

The comment to my yesterday post mentioned Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, and its parallels to the story of Halkgrimskirkja church. Having a curious mind and always wanting to see Barcelona, I had to do my research and the results were well worth it, just look at it...

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família or more simply Sagrada Família, is one of Antoni Gaudi’s(1852 – 1926), most famous works in Barcelona. The first stone of it was placed in 1882, on the festival of St. Joseph. Gaudi worked on this project for over 40 years, devoting the last fifteens years of his life solely to it. Like Guðjón Samúelsson, he did not live to see the fruits of his labour. Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 hit by the streetcar, and his body was buried in the crypt of the Temple .

The most amazing thing is that Sagrada Família has never been finished and is still under construction even now with scheduled date of completion in 2026. Now I simply have to go to Barcelona...

You can see other works of Anton Gaudi here and learn more about Sagrada Família here.

Oh, many thank to the commenter.

Hallgrimskirkja Church and the Art Contest

On the photo you can see Hallgrímskirkja church. It is one of the tallest building in Reykjavík and you can see it from everywhere. On a clear day you can see it even from Hafnafjörður, where we live and which is more than 30 km away from Reykjavík. It took 34 years (1940-1974) to build this church and its architect, Guðjón Samúelsson, died before it was finished. The name of the church honours the Icelandic poet Reverend Hallgrímur Pétursson. I am not particularly taken by its design but you cannot help but admire its grandeur. It became our orienteer in Reykjavik, as I imagine it is for a thousand of tourists who pass through the city.

Perhaps that was the reason why my older son chose to draw it for the FS art contest. I am really impressed with his determination – he chose what he wanted to draw, printed and filled in the entry form and was sure to finish his drawing before his father’s departure to the States.

And, here is the the finished project:

He certainly deserves kudos for trying.