Temple de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

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One of the first things that I look at when I enter a structure is the windows, or more properly you might say the light that is entering and how it interacts with the interior. In most religious structures you have the addition of stained glass, an element which can seriously add or detract from the beauty. Many stained glass windows seem to create darkness, but here in Sagrada Familia they admit light while "staining" it in multi colors that enhance the interior.

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Looking at the stained glass windows in Sagrada Familia, you are sometimes almost fooled into thinking you are in a "regular" church. That is until you notice the design of the window frames, the way some of the glass subjects are almost abstract in structure and the surroundings bring you back to where you truly are.
A point that is made when you learn of the windows is that they are composed of differing darknesses of glass, the object of which is to allow light in at varying degrees of intensity. It seems that Gaudi wanted to admit more light, not less. Some glass elements are combined with sunlights to admit and gather sunlight and utilize it as the lighting element as opposed to artifical light.
The structure is still under construction and nothing seems to make that more obvious than the scaffolding outside, but inside you have two things that remind you also. The first and most obvious are the sounds of construction, you may hear a saw or a grinder working away at the structure. But you also have an entire side wall of "stained glass windows" with NO STAINED GLASS", nope, no stained glass, at the moment they are just plain clear glass, waiting for the moment when they will be changed.

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These huge columns support that arching roof WAY over your head. The Audio Guide gives you a number, saying it is so and so HIGH...but the numbers do not translate into what your eyes see, this ceiling is REALLY HIGH. The simple colums with few or no decorations on the lower sections seem to slim to support such a ceiling. Some branch out at about 3/4 of the way up, they look like a tree with the lower branches missing. Some of the columns support walkways or balconies, but others reach all the way up to the ceiling that seems such a vast distance. This may be a function of the amount of light, Sagrada Familia is designed to let in light. Many older structures look gloomy, Sagrada Familia does not, even with its huge size, maybe "welcoming" would be the word I'm looking for.

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No problem with claustrophobia here in Sagrada Familia, the ceilings are so high that if you don't actually look up you may not notice them. But Gaudi took care of that also, the columns are built in such a way that they seem to naturally draw your glance upwards...and I guess in a church that is the point, "look to heaven". The diversity of the different design elements he used around the ceilings is beautiful if somewhat simpler than what we had seen in many Gaudi designs. Many looked like flowers with the center being a skylight, letting in sunlight so that the flower could glow. Again, the columns themselves were on the simple side, almost no protrusions or decorations, just simple columns with a single "bulge" somewhere near the top where the column would split and arch over and on that bulge are varying decorations.

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Admit it, the first thing that comes to your mind when you visit a religious structure is, NOT, going up in the tower for a look around, or at least it was not my first thought. But here in the Sagrada Familia of Gaudi, I would tell anyone, it is a slightly restricted view because of the way the openings in the tower are built, narrow like the arrow slits on castle walls is what they reminded me of. But it IS THE BEST VIEW IN TOWN (with possibly one exception, the Torre de Collserola tower and Tibidabo, up on the highest hill surrounding Barcelona)
So take a look at the first photo which shows the view straight down inside the tower. If you have no problem with heights, then take this short trip up. You can get an elevator, costs about 2.50 Euro and they give you a specific time that you have the elevator, so don't miss it.
As you can see in the photos the continous building is putting up scaffolding, making some of the views very "junky" (even the top of the tower had been covered in some sort of netting to protect it from damage or falling pieces), but the clear views are spectacular to say the least.

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From the ticket booths, to reach the museum, you need to enter the Passion entrance, cross the entire width of the basicilla, exit by way of the Nativity entrance and then go down a ramp on the right side to enter the underground museum.
The museum has on display facade designs, concept drawings & sketches, carvings and flooring plans. There is even an observation room where you can observe workers preparing things for the building.

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The third main entrance that leads into the temple is apparently the simple brother to the Passion and Nativity side entrances. As you can see in the first photo, very little decoration, but if you look closely you will see three orange spots up high. No those are not stained glass windows, those are three workmen on ropes that you can see better in the second photo.
The third photo shows again the Passion entrance, but as seen from the side. This is just to compare it with the fourth photo that shows the undecorated entrance. The fifth and last photo here shows some of the typical Gaudi type decorations on the roof, similiar to Bathlo and Palau Guell.

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The Nativity facade or entrance on the opposite side from the Passion entrance, needs a long view to see it in its entirety, but also a close up view to see the tiny intricate details. Unlike the Passion facade which has almost monumental sized statuary with angular and pure lines, the Nativity facade has gone in the opposite direction with such a gluttony of detail that you need to sit down and try to wrap your imagination around all you can see. I have added only a few of the dozens of photos I took, most with a telephoto lens so I could later see in more detail what was too far away to see. This entrance towers above you and the small details continue all the way up.