The highest point of the city of Barcelona, the summit of Mount Tibidabo, is crowned by the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose presence is inseparable from the city skyline and, because of its location, is even a point of reference on a metropolitan scale. However, the complex, which consists of a crypt and an upper church accessed by wide steps, has never been really liked by the public.
Tibidabo forms part of the Collserola mountain range, which encloses the city and separates it from the Vallès region. The idea of this natural wall that encloses and protects the city suggested the layout of the lower church, with towers and battlements, resolved with the massive forms of the Romanesque style, as a base on which the upper church, with its vertical Gothic lines, rises.
The crypt or lower church has an excellent sculptural work on the façade by Eusebi Arnau, which combines the basic forms of Romanesque art with Baroque decorative details, especially the Solomonic columns at the entrance, and naturalistic details such as stylised plant motifs. The doorway depicts the Virgin of La Mercè and Sant Jordi and Sant Jaume. An initial project envisaged a flowery decorative repertoire for the upper church (known from old photographs of the model), but at the time of its construction, Enrique Sagnier, who soon had the collaboration of his son José María, opted to refine the forms.
The land at the top of the hill was acquired by a group of citizens and given to the founder of the Salesian order, Saint Joan Bosco, on the occasion of his visit to Barcelona in 1886. He promoted the construction of a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, along the lines of others in other countries, such as the famous Sacré Cœur de Montmartre in Paris.
The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built with alms from all over Spain. The work occupied the architect for three decades, until his death in 1931. His son continued his work and completed the construction in 1961.
