Word: sagrada
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...would be a betrayal to even think of finishing the Sagrada Familia . . . without genius. Let it remain there, like a huge rotting tooth." -- Catalan painter Salvador Dali...
...Sagrada Familia is . . . the reflection of the soul of the people. Woe the day that it is halted!" -- Catalan poet Joan Maragall...
Sensual, spiritual, whimsical, exuberant -- few buildings so symbolize a city as Barcelona's unfinished Sagrada Familia: the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. Architect Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece dominates the skyline of Catalonia's capital, attracting 700,000 visitors a year. Its art nouveau stonework, its mosaic-encrusted bell towers and its warped geometry brilliantly mock the banality of much modern architecture...
...Barcelona seeks international celebrity in playing host to the 1992 Summer Olympics, the smoldering controversy over the Sagrada Familia has flared anew. Last summer 200 Barcelona artists and intellectuals issued statements deriding new sculptures for the church by Catalan artist Josep Maria Subirachs as "boorish" and "kitsch." Protesters circled the church in a candlelight procession. Religious objections have also arisen: traditionalists are holding monthly prayer sessions, inveighing against the stark nudity of Subirachs' Christ...
With Olympic-era Barcelona featuring such sleek modernist architects as Richard Meier and Arata Isozaki, the Sagrada Familia, now 40% complete, may be maligned by some as an old-fashioned ugly duckling. But its admirers have faith that it will yet grow into a swan. Eventually, its central spire will climax in a gold cross reaching at least 170 meters toward the sky, making it Europe's tallest church. At the current construction rate, that will not happen until the 21st century. But as Gaudi once said, pointing heavenward, "My client isn't in any hurry...