Stained glass at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi church architecture, Barcelona Catalunya. Spain Europe
The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is a work on a grand scale which was begun on 19 March 1882 from a project by the diocesan architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901). At the end of 1883 Gaudí was commissioned to carry on the works, a task which he did not abandon until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea. The building is in the centre of Barcelona, and over the years it has become one of the most universal signs of identity of the city and the country. It is visited by millions of people every year and many more study its architectural and religious content. It has always been an expiatory church, which means that since the outset, 125 years ago now, it has been built from donations. Gaudí himself said: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people." The building is still going on and could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century. The church has stained glass on various windows and openings. The ones done by the stained glass maker Joan Vila-Grau since 1999 are outstanding; they are made of panes of different colours fixed with lead and concrete. In these pieces of stained glass, Vila-Grau symbolises specific themes through the masses of colour. The first stained glass windows to be placed were in the transepts, and they express the symbology conceived by Gaudí. The main window of the transept of the Passion façade represents the resurrection, the stained glass of the sides and the main nave will symbolise the saints and shrines linked to the local church represented on each column. The upper stained glass windows of the side naves will illustrate Jesus’ words ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, ‘The resurrection’, etc. The stained glass windows in the central nave will have no colour and will be made with plain, translucent or opaque glass to symbo
Size: 3346px × 5019px
Location: Barcelona Catalunya. Spain Europe
Photo credit: © Barcelona Photo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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