THE TEMPLE’S BEGINNINGS AND GAUDÍ’S PROJECT
After the resignation of Villar, Joan Martorell, who advised the Josefina Association and was one of the most prestigious architects of the time, proposed Antoni Gaudí as a continuation of the works begun. At the time, Gaudí was a young architect, with 31 years of age, and he accepted the position of managing director on November 3, 1883.
Gaudí continued the works designed by Villar and, as he gained prestige as an architect - and at the same time the confidence of the Josephine association -, he gradually transformed the initial project to the point of reaching a large, monumental temple around 1890. The new conception of the building is no longer limited to a typical Latin cross church. It increases the scale and projects a main body of five naves with a transept of three, and a monumental façade at each end, dedicated to the Nativity - east transept -, the Passion - west transept - and the Glory, located at the foot of the main nave. To join the three façades, there is a perimeter cloister, which surrounds the nave and the surrounding island, with a building on each corner dedicated to sacristies, a baptistery and a chapel of the Sacrament and Penance.
The new building has a great symbolic value as a manifestation of the Christian faith - which is inseparable from art and architecture - and gains in verticality. The three façades contain four towers each, about 100 metres high, dedicated to the twelve apostles. In the centre of the transept is a large dome, consisting of six towers even taller than the previous ones, dedicated to the Virgin Mary - on the apse -, the four Evangelists - one on each corner of the transept - and the large central tower of Jesus Christ, about 170 feet.
Gaudí devoted the rest of his life to the design and construction of the Temple, and exclusively from 1914, when he ceased his professional activity outside the Sagrada Família.
During Gaudí’s lifetime, the crypt, the façade of the apse and much of the Nativity Façade were built.