In an increasingly secular age there's something about this church, which was intended by Gaudí as a work of expiation for the sins of Barcelona, that compels people (more than 2.8 million of them annually) to come. Some are captivated by the romance of a building unfinished after 130 years that will probably be completed in our lifetime; a number ... Moreare Gaudí devotees. Still others reckon that their trip to Barcelona won't be complete without seeing what all the fuss is about.

Whatever the motivation, the visit will be memorable. Once through the ticket barrier your first close-up encounter will be with the Subirachs sculptures of the Passion façade; there's a detailed description of this work at point of interest 2.

For decades the interior was a dusty, almost blank, canvas. The interior was finally consecrated as a basilica in 2010 and it is quite unlike any temple you have ever seen. In the central nave dizzyingly high columns soar 45 meters then divide to form the slanting branches of a spiritual forest, filtering an astonishing amount of light. The stained glass of the windows so far installed add warmth to the quality of light, but you need to look at the way shafts of light beam down from the exquisitely beautiful cupola above the high altar to be truly awestruck.

An exhibition on Gaudí and nature describes how he took his inspiration from the structure of plants, fossils and animals with their absence of straight lines. Perhaps the best illustration of this lies in the huge, colorful finials that cap the pinnacles of the nativity spires.

The nativity façade bristles with central characters like the Three Wise Men and Bethlehem-bound Mary on a donkey, these stalwarts joined by Roman soldiers executing the slaughter of the Innocents, and jolly choirs of angels and folksy musicians. But the overwhelming impression is of the strange lava-like material that seems to ooze between the figures like melting candle wax.

Much work remains to be done. Gaudí prescribed that a spire to honor Jesus Christ should be 170 meters high (one meter less than Montjüic Hill) in deference to the superiority of the natural world. If completed as planned it will be the tallest church on the planet. Experts estimate that if funding continues, the church should be completed in the second quarter of this century.

There are dissenters. Some distinguished architects believe that Gaudí's plans were too vague and constantly shifting to be faithfully rendered, and that the building should remain unfinished as a tribute to his unique genius. But the world has taken La Sagrada Família to its heart and only a visit can establish whether you will, too.
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Plaça de la Sagrada Família, Carrer de Mallorca, 401
932 073 031
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Hours
October to March
Daily 9am-6pm
April to September
Daily 9am-8pm
Dec. 25, 26; Jan. 1, 6
9am-2pm
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When Josep Maria Subirachs' sculptures for The Passion façade began to take shape, fans of the rich ornamentation of the Nativity façade were appalled, arguing that the sculptor's vision was out of sympathy with the work overseen by the master and so debased his memory.

Twenty years later the stark expressionism of Subirachs' angular a... Morend tormented cast of characters--from the gaunt figures at the Last Supper to an agonized St. Peter crushed after his denial of Christ to the blank-faced Veronica who wipes the face of Jesus--seem a perfect counterpoint. And judging by the comparative periods visitors spend craning at and photographing the figures on both façades (even in a torrential downpour), perhaps the contemporary work has eclipsed its predecessor in public curiosity.

Gaudí is on record as wanting statues to convey fear and horror, enabling worshippers to empathize with the pain, suffering and cruelty of the Passion and the enormity of the sins of man.

Work began on a pyramidal pediment, the architectural structure that frames the sculptures in 1954, with the sculptors taking up their chisels more than 30 years later. The narrative proceeds in an "S" format, starting bottom left with the Last Supper and ending top right with the Descent from the Cross and Resurrection via familiar scenes such as the Judas kiss, Christ's trial, the nonintervention of Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers gambling for the spoils of Christ's clothing.

To aid visitor understanding of the brutality of the Passion, Subirachs brings one figure to ground level--a 5-meter-high representation of the Flagellation stands by one of the doorways--agony and despair clearly visible.

One of the most striking features are the eerily robotic Roman soldiers encased in headgear that seem a cross between medieval helmets and the terrifying mask of Darth Vader. They pay homage to the strange chimneys from Gaudí's La Pedrera.
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La Sagrada Família
Plaça de la Sagrada Família, Carrer de Mallorca, 401
Subirachs Passion façade is beside the entrance for individual visitors on Carrer Sardenya
932 073 031
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Hours
October to March
Daily 9am-6pm
April to September
Daily 9am-8pm
Dec. 25, 26; Jan. 1, 6
9am-2pm
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Sometimes it feels as if Barcelona's mission is to enchant. This is seldom more apparent than in the joyfully innocent Park Güell, a soon-abandoned garden suburb with plots for 60 houses north of the Eixample. The large site gave full flower to Gaudí's imagination, as the extensive use of trencadí--brilliantly colored broken-tiled mosaics--creates ... Morea Hansel and Gretel world rendered with a Willy Wonka palette.

Many visitors arrive at the entrance by the two gingerbread gatehouses (one crowned by a finial of Gaudí's signature four-armed cross, the other by a giant egg) and immediately encounter a bottleneck on the steps leading to the first terrace. It's not a ticket line (entrance is free), but rather people waiting to be snapped with the large ceramic lizard that has become the park's emblem.

Enter the great pillared forum at the top of the steps and among the profusion of columns and sunburst ceiling mosaics you'll find assorted entertainers. Turn left and wander through a walkway where a colonnade sprinkled with occasional figures carved into the stone creates a sense of having delved into a petrified forest.

The main terrace above the Hall of Pillars has great views over the city. Views are best enjoyed from the enormous mosaic bench that snakes its way around the perimeter to mimic a giant sea serpent. You also may be treated to the sounds of the bands that jam here or you can watch the technicians painstakingly restore the trencadís.

Head onward along the winding path to encounter living statues who seem to be playing hooky from the Ramblas, perhaps a gilded Atlas with the weight of the world--or at least a large inflatable globe--on his shoulders. Follow the signs until you reach the Casa Museu Gaudí, in the pink house with the needle spire. The architect lived here in what was intended to be a show house for the housing development. It's one of only two completed residences, neither designed by Gaudí. The museum contains examples of the furniture he designed for domestic commissions, which contrast starkly with the cell-like austerity of his bedroom.
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Park Güell
Olot, s/n
932 130 488
Hours
December, January, February
Daily 10am-6pm
March and November
Daily 10am-7pm
April and October
Daily 10am-8pm
May-September
Daily 10am-9pm
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Casa Museu Gaudí
Park Güell
Carratera del Carmel, s/n
932 193 811
Hours
October-March
Daily 10am-6pm
April-September
10am-8pm
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You can't help wondering what the locals thought a century ago when a monumentally vast apartment complex, which seems more moulded than built, wrapped its way around one corner of the Passeig de Gràcia and Carrer Provença. The dense and chunky edifice was called Casa Milà, but its appearance meant that it soon became known as "La Pedrera" or the s... Moretone quarry.

Visitors receive audio guides to help demystify the architectural thinking behind the design, describing a route that begins on the roof. Expect to utter a wide-eyed "Wow!" as you emerge to discover a multilevel space populated by clusters of strange figures that seem to have arrived from a science fiction movie. Chimneys known as espanta bruixes or "witch scarers" stand alone or in groups, looking like helmeted warriors or fantastical chess pieces. Stairwell casings that look like battered giant bells, Egyptian mummies or huge hooting owls--depending on how the light and your imagination catch them--are covered in Gaudí's signature trencadí tiles. It's a fantastical dreamscape: compelling, intriguing and ever-so-slightly sinister.

Descend to the attic space below, where you can explore the building's strange ribcage, a surfeit of arches and examine architectural models that let you see the whole building at once--something the enormous bulk of the structure (built around two curving courtyards) makes impossible in reality. There's a short audio-visual that joins the dots of the sociopolitical context of Gaudí's life and work and a chance to visit one of the apartments that--but for its irregular walls--seems bizarrely conventional.
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Passeig de Gràcia, 92 (entrance on Carrer Provença)
902 10 12 12 (tel-entrada advance sales)
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Hours
November-February
Daily 9am-6:30pm (last entry 6pm)
March-October
Daily 9am-8pm
Closed Dec. 25, Jan. 9-15
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There are jazz evenings on the roof terrace from 8:30-11pm on Friday and Saturday in summer.
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Gaudí famously declared that there are "no straight lines in nature," and perhaps the best illustration of this is the extraordinary interior of the iridescently beautiful Casa Batlló. If you stroll along the Passeig de Gràcia, you'll know it for its strangely mask-like balconies. Their rows along the upper floors of the façade look like a parade o... Moref debutantes at a grand Venetian ball. Those balconies sit on walls of colored tiles in shimmering blues, greens and purples that you might only fully appreciate when the sun strikes at a certain angle or when the building is gloriously illuminated at night.

Visitors receive audio guides that deliver a comprehensive, yet accessible, talk that unveils the thinking behind the flowing lines and strange contours that snake through the house. Be amazed by the rounded walls of the entrance hallway, the strange mushroom fireplace in the anteroom (complete with a seat for a chaperone to oversee the decorum of a courting couple!) and the wonderful noble salon that overlooks the Passeig de Gràcia. Look out for little echoes of the sea, from fish-scale stippling of the walls to swirling, eel-like balustrade ends.

Proceeding upward, pretty pastel pillars bisect the doorway that leads to a lovely garden patio with azulejo-tiled planters. A floral-patterned polychrome wall delineates the lofty roof terrace and colorful panels of trencadís studding the walls.

It's a fitting curtain-raiser for the astonishing roof. Here mosaiced chimneys rise to points like giant, diabolical pencils, a four-armed cross springs apparently from a clove of garlic and--most extravagantly of all--the wall adopts a surprising sweep, dramatically representing the spine and scaly tail of the dragon dispatched by Sant Jordi (St. George).
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Passeig de Gràcia, 43
932 160 306
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Hours
Daily 9am-8pm
From mid-June to early September 9pm-12:30am Wednesday to Sunday there is also a special program of live music and drinks on the terrace.
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This new museum, not far from the Passeig de Gràcia, provides a wonderful showcase for artifacts created with a Modernist aesthetic.

If you've previously found Art Nouveau to be a rather stuffy style, Catalunya's aesthetic variant really knew how to blow the cobwebs away. Prepare to be astonished by the beauty of items, from dazzling s... Moretained glass to exquisite marquetry panels and strangely voluptuous furniture.

Inevitably there are examples of Gaudí furniture but there is also captivating work in sycamore, mahogany, jacaranda and rosewood by the cabinetmaker Gaspar Homar. A short film helps put the Modernist movement in its social and political context as it developed as a by-product of growing Catalan self-confidence, prosperity and national identity. You'll see how a number of nationalist symbols, like the "sardana" dance from Homar's glorious marquetry panel, are used in secretaires. The Black Madonna of Montserrat (a nearby shrine) and patron Saint Sant Jordi (St. George) dispatching the mythical dragon are a recurring theme in the art of the period.
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Balmes,48
932 722 896
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Hours
Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm
Sunday 10am-2pm
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