LA SAGRADA FAMILIA
BARCELONA, SPAIN
IMAGE NUMBER 791
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família Sagrada (Church of the Holy Family) is a large church in Barcelona, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it.
Construction commenced in 1882. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death. Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger describes it as, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."
This image may look like the congregation, but it is not. It is simply an image of the tourists taking in the scene. 34 million tourists every year in Barcelona.
TECHNICAL NOTES
The image was taken with a hand-held Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 200. Exposure of 1/160th of a second and an aperture of f4.5. 45 mm Phase One wide angle lens with focal plane shutter. The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.