The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia

The most important work of architect Antoni Gaudí

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About the book The temple of the Sagrada Familia

Considered a landmark in the history of architecture, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudí's great masterpiece, who used his unlimited imagination and his capacity for innovation to create a site of revolutionary design loaded with symbolism.

Obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect temple, Gaudí dedicated the last 43 years of his life to the construction of the Sagrada Familia, in such a way that the monument constitutes a compendium of all the technical solutions developed by the architect over his long professional career. Likewise, the temple reflects the indepth liturgical knowledge of Gaudí, who through a detailed iconographic programme, set about transforming Sagrada Familia into a great Bible made of stone.

This book on Sagrada Familia, published by Dosde, analyses the innovative structure and the deep allegorical significance of the temple, as well as its origins and evolution. Declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2005, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia has converted into the most emblematic building of Barcelona, the city in which Gaudí developed most of his work.

Deluxe Edition

The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia

  • It includes exclusive digital content
  • Made with environmentally friendly paper
  • Official licensed product
  • "Premio Clap Platinum" Best Illustration

About the book The temple of the Sagrada Familia

Considered a landmark in the history of architecture, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudí's great masterpiece, who used his unlimited imagination and his capacity for innovation to create a site of revolutionary design loaded with symbolism.

Obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect temple, Gaudí dedicated the last 43 years of his life to the construction of the Sagrada Familia, in such a way that the monument constitutes a compendium of all the technical solutions developed by the architect over his long professional career. Likewise, the temple reflects the indepth liturgical knowledge of Gaudí, who through a detailed iconographic programme, set about transforming Sagrada Familia into a great Bible made of stone.

This book on Sagrada Familia, published by Dosde, analyses the innovative structure and the deep allegorical significance of the temple, as well as its origins and evolution. Declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2005, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia has converted into the most emblematic building of Barcelona, the city in which Gaudí developed most of his work.

Videos The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia

Readers opinions
(18)

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Reviews
(18)

Engene Mc Kenna (UK)
Engene Mc Kenna (UK)
Your books are pretty good as they are
Antonio Fco. Anaya (Spain)
Antonio Fco. Anaya (Spain)
Great photographs and packed with information. An excellent book.
Craig Cutler (USA)
Craig Cutler (USA)
I was really pleased with the book. I do think that a broader selection of topics would have been great, as well as ebooks...
Sara Bizocchi (Italy)
Sara Bizocchi (Italy)
I've found this book to be very comprehensive and detailed to get to know the Sagrada Familia better.
Matthieu Stivala (France)
Matthieu Stivala (France)
An excellent book on Sagrada Familia with high quality and detailed content. I totally recommend it.
Thierry Muller (France)
Thierry Muller (France)
Great. The illustrations are excellent, many photos and detailed information about Gaudí's work.
Olivier Guéritaine (France)
Olivier Guéritaine (France)
Great information, great photos. A very complete book.
Dominique Suau (France)
Dominique Suau (France)
A very good book, I totally recommend it, the content is of a high quality.
Guy Turcotte (Canada)
Guy Turcotte (Canada)
I am fascinated with Gaudi's architecture and this book is highly recommended. It fulfilled my expectations, well done!
Marten Langbraten (Norway)
Marten Langbraten (Norway)
An excellent book, it was worth purchasing.
Robert Rothwell (UK)
Robert Rothwell (UK)
Nice book about Sagrada Familia. I recommend it.
Esther Wu (USA)
Esther Wu (USA)
Great book. Meet my expectation!
Joanne Whittaker (USA)
Joanne Whittaker (USA)
Excellent! I can't think of anything necessary to improve the books.
Amelia López (Spain)
Amelia López (Spain)
Great purchase!
Peter-Leo Nelson
Peter-Leo Nelson
The content is very good, a great buy.
Jesús Serdio (Spain)
Jesús Serdio (Spain)
The photos are very good and detailed. Quality content.
Gema Naranjo (Spain)
Gema Naranjo (Spain)
It seemed to be a very complete book. It's got everything you need to know about the Sagrada Familia.
Ernesto Noya (Peru)
Ernesto Noya (Peru)
It's got good information, quite complete and very good illustrations and photos.

Readers opinions
(18)

Engene Mc Kenna (UK)
Engene Mc Kenna (UK)
Your books are pretty good as they are
Antonio Fco. Anaya (Spain)
Antonio Fco. Anaya (Spain)
Great photographs and packed with information. An excellent book.

Additional Information

  • Additional Information
  • Subtitle: The most important work of architect Antoni Gaudí
  • Weight (g): 1450
  • Binding: Hard cover
  • Size (cm): No
  • Author: Dosde
  • Pages: 192
  • Edition: Deluxe Edition
  • language
  • Spanish
  • English
  • French
  • Italian
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Russian
  • Chinese
  • Catalan
  • isbn
  • 978-84-9103-197-0
  • 978-84-9103-198-7
  • 978-84-9103-199-4
  • 978-84-15818-25-0
  • 978-84-15818-26-7
  • No
  • No
  • No
  • 978-84-9103-278-6
  • sku
  • 25-014-00
  • 25-014-01
  • 25-014-02
  • 25-014-03
  • 25-014-04
  • 25-014-05
  • 25-014-06
  • 25-014-07
  • 25-014-08

The origins of Sagrada Familia

The nineteenth century was a complicated period for Christianity in Europe, and Barcelona was a paradigm of these difficulties. The Church, which had wielded great influence throughout the entire history of Spain, saw its authority greatly challenged due to the action of the successive liberal governments that held power in the decades following the French Revolution and the War of Independence.

The foundation in 1866 of the Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph was part of this reaction by the Church to recover its spiritual influence on society. The fact that by 1878 the association already had half a million members encouraged its creator, bookseller and philanthropist Josep Maria Bocabella, to take up the construction of an expiatory temple dedicated to the Holy Family, subsidised by worshippers’ donations on a plot of land in the Eixample. After several years of preparation, building work started on the 19th of March, 1882.

Francisco del Villar was Sagrada Familias first architect who devised a neo-Gothic temple, in accordance with the historicist trends prevailing at the time. However, just one year after the start of the building work, Del Villar resigned from managing the project due to differences with Bocabella and his main consultant, historicist architect Joan Martorell.

After Del Villar’s resignation, Bocabella offered the supervision of the building work to Joan Martorell, his consultant, but the latter declined and recommended his most talented disciple: a 31 year old architect namedAntoni Gaudí.

La Sagrada Familia, Gaudí's masterpiece

Gaudí took charge of the building work in 1883 and combined the temple’s construction with his other projects, until 1914 when he decided not to take on any more commissions and to dedicate himself exclusively –up to his death in the year 1926– to the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia.

Gaudí set out to erect a building of enormous dimensions on a Latin cross ground plan with five naves. Using the great medieval cathedrals as one of his sources of inspiration, Gaudí proposed the reinterpretation of the Gothic style as a necessary concept for the Sagrada Familia in order to establish a close relationship between heaven and earth by means of height and light.

The architect was inspired by nature at the time of devising the complete project for the basilica, inspired by trees to create the interior's columns and incorporating animal scultures and elements from the natural world on the façades and towers. The 43 years that Gaudí dedicated to the construction of the Sagrada Familia enabled the architect to understand that his project was able to achieve what for centuries no other architect before him had managed to do: to construct a perfect temple.



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