July 19, 2009, late afternoon

I am writing this while standing in line to take the lift to the top of the Sagrada Familia's west-facing facade. We went to the top of the East-facing one earlier.

This building is magnificent, though much of its beauty is currently obscured by scaffolding, cranes, etc. as part of a renovation effort. Much of the cathedral's stained glass has been removed, and the church is open to Barcelona's breezes.

Gaudi's slanted, hyperbolic, palm- trunklike columns are astonishing -- and then he creates these amazing gold-glazed arches with sharp geometric shapes that evoke palm fronds (between the "fronds" there are circular cavities, that supposedly evoke stars at night). The beautiful gold reflects whatever rainbow colors are in the stained glass nearby.

The Biblical figures on the outdoor facades are almost cubically carved from the ivory marble (?) that the building is carved from.

There is a little display in the back that relates many of the organic forms Gaudi was fond of to the shapes in nature and the geometric shapes that inspired him. For instance, the spiral staircases that wind down the pointed towers, the double crucifix of a cypress nut, the shapes of the roofs (curved along certain planes, like leaves), the tips of the spires, which are inspired by the tips of purple wildflowers, and possibly oranges, lemons, limes.

Apparently, Gaudi was sickly as a child, and his mother would take him for long walks in meadows. This influence is apparent in all of his work, I think.