In the middle of one of the only (and minuscule) parks that we can find within the inclement grid of the Eixample, the Jardines del Palau Robert, there is these days an austere exhibition called Gaudí, the Sagrada Família and Barcelona / One hundred and forty-four years of shared path, which illustrates the symbolic, urbanistic and historical importance of the temple for a city that has not always understood it, has not always been clear about the continuity of the works and has not always protected it as it should.
Only now, when everyone sees the success of culminating the Tower of Jesus and we await the visit of the Pope as a great world event, some old skeptics jump on the bandwagon and atone for their sins by dedicating to it, yes, the smaller space of the exhibition space that the Generalitat has in Passeig de Gràcia. An exhibition with many obvious points but also with some surprises, informative, guiding and friendly. Opportunistic by necessity, like so many institutional exhibitions that are held. More than opportunistic, then, let's call it providential.
It is a chronological, visual exhibition, with brief texts and arranged on panels strategically placed along the paths of the small garden, and with a large introductory mural in the lobby of the Palau Robert where the credentials and justification are presented, but also the authorship, the curatorship and the texts (Fundació Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) and other credits.
It is explained that we are facing a shared story, an example of perseverance and dedication, of generational effort and a city project but at the same time of a spiritual nature. There is an explicit reference to the Christian values of faith, charity and hope, but also to the general civil value of being aware of everything we are capable of building. Far, therefore, from that time when the municipal architects themselves called it "Easter cake" (without looking in the mirror, of course).
As a fan of the subject, I have been especially interested in the references to the initial plot of land and to the orchards and farmhouses and torrents before anything existed, to Genesis, in the middle of the emptiness of the plain. They say that it was called the Battlefield, because the children of Poblet faced each other there, but here we learn that in Cerdà's very grid-like plan, the initial idea was to build a large hippodrome. Nothing new in the minds of those who project new Icarias, old chimeras, vulgarities. We are in 1852, when Antoni Gaudí was born, two years before the walls began to be demolished and twenty years before the Spiritual Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph (which here they prefer to mention in Spanish, in a legalistic registration that seems exaggerated and unnecessary to me) agreed to the construction of the temple (in 1881 they would buy the plot).
Then, in the next panel, we will focus on the first stone (period drawing with Bishop Urquinaona, Bishop Morgades and other city authorities) and on the first architect who was commissioned for the work, the forgettable Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, the unforgettable Gaudí took over the project, after strong internal technical discrepancies. Or perhaps, who knows, the result of divine providence (in the Sagrada Família, as everyone knows, everything is providential).
We then move on to 1884-1899, the period in which the chapel of San José was consecrated, the 1888 Universal Exhibition was held, and Barcelona annexed Sant Martí de Provençals (1897). We soon delve into the radical change in the temple's profile (1900-1925), Gaudí's footprint, both crazy and full of meaning, with a Nativity facade and a San Bernabé tower already clearly visible. The temple schools are also mentioned, for the children of the workers, Gaudí's constructive fever with a good handful of simultaneous projects, the idea of the second International Exhibition (Barcelona and its growth spurts always appear mentioned in parallel).
In the next panel, the mention of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship is conspicuously absent: it's all "great social and political tensions." Okay, let's not talk about it and move directly from 1936 to 1940: there is no mention of who burned Gaudí's workshop (like the Berlin Wall, which "fell" by itself) nor is there any reference to the Civil War ("the intense pace of urban transformation is abruptly interrupted") and the temple becomes, yes, a sign of perseverance, faith, and heritage protection.
The "times of recovery" (1941-1976) coincide with the Franco dictatorship: "the dream continues," the disciples take charge of continuing the project, and in 1954, work on the Passion façade begins (with the bell towers completed in 1976). Here, there is talk of the regime, of survival, of the tram strike, and of the great migratory wave to Barcelona.
In the next panel, we will see the photo of Narcís Serra, Maragall, Rubert de Ventós and Antoni Dalmau in Lausanne celebrating the Olympic nomination. We are in the period 1977-1991, democratic recovery and the start of work on the facades and vaults of the side naves. Visit of John Paul II ("all Spaniards") in 1982 and a reference to Subirachs that avoids the controversy about his sculptures, surely because their creators must all be convinced that, despite everything, it was worth continuing. Also a mention of "Barcelona, get pretty" and the preparation for the Olympic Games, which will explode in the next panel, where "the temple and the city become global symbols." Oh dear.
From 1992 to 2000, works accelerated and recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site arrived (in addition to the Gaudí Year, in 2002), and Barcelona, for its part, became a modernized and attractive city ("the new global Barcelona," according to the text: oh dear, again). The new Pope Benedict XVI blesses the basilica and the visitor wonders how the exhibition will address the most contemporary years.
Well, with a photo of Ada Colau, and another of Salvador Illa (panels from 2011-2020 and 2021-2026, respectively), because undoubtedly there have been no politicians or rulers of other sensibilities in Catalonia and Barcelona during all this time. The works on the sacristy, an agreement with the City Council to regulate the relationship between the city and the temple, the towers of the Virgin Mary and the Evangelists, COVID, a very brief and tiny reference (hallelujah!) to the 1-O 2017 referendum and the inauguration of Gaudí Year 2025.
Does it end here? No: a final panel speaks exclusively of 2026 and refers to the World Capital of Architecture, as well as showing us the current mayor alongside Bishop Omella witnessing the solidarity march of ambulances to Ukraine. We have already said it: in the Sagrada Família nothing is providential.