Inside Barcelona's Sagrada Família: How Gaudí's vision became a 'Bible in stone'
Barcelona's most famous landmark has been under construction for nearly 150 years, but the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia is now officially the tallest church in the world and closer than ever to completion.
"Good Morning America" co-anchor Michael Strahan recently took viewers inside and to the very top of the iconic basilica, designed by famed architect Antoni Gaudí, to capture views and share the sights.
Construction on the basilica began in 1882 and Gaudí, who took up the reins as chief architect the following year, meticulously crafted every detail of his design with symbolic meaning to create a structure that would serve as what he called "a Bible in stone."
Nearly a century after his death in 1926, architects and visitors from around the world continue to marvel at the Catholic church's grandeur and have been drawn to uncover more about one of the most ambitious architectural projects in history.
One of the basilica's architects, Mauricio Cortés, took Strahan on a tour of the church, climbing to the top of the structure to witness the sweeping views below.
For Gaudí, Cortés explained, "everything is interconnected." Cortés said Gaudí wanted people to be able to "read" the Bible through stone and structure.
The basilica features three main facades -- the Nativity, the Passion and the Glory -- each depicting a different chapter of Christ's life.
The only portion that was completed during Gaudí's lifetime was the Nativity façade, which faces east to symbolize the rising sun and the birth of Christ.
Gaudí designed the project as a multigenerational effort and left behind detailed models and plans, aware that future architects would add their own artistic contributions.
"Each generation is going to enrich the project," Cortés said, explaining that Gaudí believed people from around the world would someday travel to see the church.
That collaborative spirit is visible throughout the building and sculptures, which include faces carved in stone that were molded from real people who lived or worked nearby during Gaudí's time as chief architect, including neighborhood vendors and maintenance workers.
His natural world influences reimagined traditional church architecture, and Gaudí replaced pointed arches and flying buttresses with branching, tree-like columns.
The canopy of rising columns that resemble a forest open above, which allows light to pour through and mimic sunlight filtering through leaves.
The stained glass was designed as a "symphony of color," to transition from cooler tones in the east to warmer hues in the west.
There are two falcons that live atop the church and recently hatched chicks, part of a 20-year effort to reintroduce the historic birds to Barcelona, with the Sagrada Familia selected as a refuge.
Gaudí was devoted to the basilica, spending the last 40 years of his life working almost exclusively on the church before he moved into it. When he died in 1926, he was laid to rest in the basilica's crypt where his legacy was intertwined with the structure.
