Saturday 24 October 2009

The Churches of Spain

Sagrada Familia

This is the craziest church I have seen. Started in 1882 it has been in progress for 127 years and is not even projected to be completed until 2026. Every angle of the Church seems to be in a different style. There is the more modern currently being built style that seems completely out of place with even different color building materials, the classic Cathedral gothic style, a more grotto look, and more. It was interesting to walk around and see the salamanders and frogs in the place of gargoyles on one side.

Example of the crazy facade


Constant Construction

Esglesia Sant Pere de les Puel.les

This small church had a much warmer feel than grand Cathedrals which I really appreciated. The smell of incense while present was a duller candle smell which was also a nice change. One thing that I thought was interesting was that there were timelines along the walls which hit the highlights of world events - political, social, et cetera - by Pope. It is a Catholic Church but very sedate and minimalistic. There was a large metal statue of Peter in the center of the church with smaller frescos of Christ on either side which I thought was interesting.


The Church of the San Francis of Sales

This was a gothic style Catholic church that we wandered into. Although the gothic style architecture was similar to the gothic style of England, the church was quite different. Because there was no great political movement to destroy original decoration the original ornamentation was there and very grand. There was a lot of ornate tiling on the floor and the whole church was decorated with geometric patterns (the Muslim moor influence?). There was a fresco'd angel which was portrayed very fairy-like and palm trees were present behind Jesus. The music in the church was very Spanish and the whole church felt very Mediterranean.

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