00:00The Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, otherwise known as Sagrada Familia,
00:12is a church under construction in the Ixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
00:18It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, designed by Catalan architect
00:23Antoni Gaudí, 1852-1926.
00:27In 2005 his work on Sagrada Familia was added to an existing, 1984, UNESCO World Heritage
00:34Site, works of Antoni Gaudí.
00:37On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.
00:44On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Familia began under architect Francisco de
00:50Paula del Villar.
00:52In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the
00:58project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art
01:02Nouveau forms.
01:04Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's
01:08crypt.
01:09At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.
01:15Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Familia's construction progressed slowly and
01:20was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War.
01:23In July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into
01:29the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans.
01:33In 1939, Francis de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to go on with
01:39the material that was saved from Gaudí's workshop and that was reconstructed from published
01:43plans and photographs.
01:46Construction resumed intermittent progress in the 1950s.
01:51Advancements in technologies such as computer-aided design and computerized numerical control
01:55– CNC – have since enabled faster progress and construction past the midpoint in 2010.
02:01In 2014, it was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary
02:07of Gaudí's death.
02:09But this schedule was threatened by work slowdowns caused by the 2020-2021 depths of the COVID-19
02:15pandemic.
02:16In March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026.
02:23Though the announcement stated that work on sculptures, decorative details, and a controversial
02:28proposed stairway leading to what will eventually be the main entrance is expected to continue
02:32until 2034.
02:35Describing Sagrada Familia, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, it is probably impossible to
02:40find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art.
02:44And Paul Goldberger describes it as the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic
02:48architecture since the Middle Ages.
02:51The Basilica is not the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of Barcelona, as that title
02:56belongs to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia, Barcelona Cathedral.
03:01Origen's Sagrada Familia was inspired by a bookseller, José María Bocabella, founder
03:06of Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José, spiritual association of devotees of
03:12St. Joseph.
03:14After a visit to the Vatican in 1872, Bocabella returned from Italy to build a church inspired
03:20by the Basilica at Loretto.
03:22The apse crypt of the church, funded by donations, was begun on 19 March 1882.
03:29On the festival of St. Joseph, to the design of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar,
03:34whose plan was for a Gothic revival church of a standard form.
03:38The apse crypt was completed before Villar's resignation on 18 March 1883, when Antony
03:43Gaudi assumed responsibility for its design, which he changed radically.
03:48Gaudi began work on the church in 1883 but was not appointed architect-director until
03:531884.
03:54That is all.
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