If you've been to the Biography page on this site, there's a photo of me taken in 1988 in Carcassonne when I was on a bicycling trip that took me from Paris to Majorca (red shirt). Once I got to Barcelona, I had a few days while I waited for my bike to catch up to me (I'd put it on the train in Narbonne when I boarded a faster train) as it traveled through Toulouse.
During those days in #Barcelona, I took my handy Pentax Spotmatic film cameras and screw-mount lenses about as I explored this Catalan city. One afternoon I headed out to what is typically called the #GaudiCathedral. It's actual name, at that time, was the Church of the Holy Family. Begun one hundred and six years earlier, the Gothic and Art Nouveau architectural styles were blended in #AntoninGaudi's architectural design.
On that first visit (I've since returned in 2018 to a much more completed building), there was no roof over the nave, and from the towers, I could see down to the sanctuary floor and the raw stone block which would be the main altar. Some stained-glass had been installed, but much of the tracery was open.
Recently, I've been asked about whether I had photos of Sagrada Familia, and I explained had some older film shots from 1988, as well as digital shots from my 2018 trip. While I was living in California, I had the film pictures scanned and digitized, and I recently found the CDs they had been stored on. So I've decided to share these 18 pictures with my blog readers.
Just for your information, the Summer Olympic Games of 1992 gave the host city of Barcelona impetus to speed up the church's construction. On his papal visit in 2010, Benedict XVI consecrated the church and raised it to the status of a minor basilica. Eighteen months ago on my visit, there was some work being done on the inside, but most work was on the exterior, with the western (main) entrance being the focus of the drive to complete by 2026, the hundredth anniversary of Gaudi's death.
Oh yes, Basílica y Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Família / Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família / Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family is definitely included in the Cathedrals to the Glory of God on page 163.