{"id":272,"date":"2024-03-12T03:32:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T07:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/?p=272"},"modified":"2024-03-12T03:32:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T07:32:35","slug":"march-11-sagrada-familia-visionary-architect-antonio-gaudi-and-oriol-carrasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/2024\/03\/12\/march-11-sagrada-familia-visionary-architect-antonio-gaudi-and-oriol-carrasco\/","title":{"rendered":"March 11. Sagrada Familia: Visionary Architect, Antonio Gaud\u00ed and Oriol Carrasco"},"content":{"rendered":"

By James Scoville<\/h2>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You are dust, and to dust you shall return.<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -Genesis 3:19<\/em><\/h4>\n

This is what God said to Adam as he cast him out of Eden, alluding to how He had made humans from the dirt of the ground and that in death they will decompose back into the soil.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but think of this verse looking up at Antonio Gaud\u00ed\u2019s sandcastle-like magnum opus, Sagrada Familia.\u00a0 The figures of the story of Jesus\u2019 life emerged from the sandstone basilica as if they were animating of their own accord from a sandy beach, only to be imminently washed away by the rising tide.\u00a0 The life-like figures included all the usual suspects: the shepherds, the magi, an angel band (one playing a bassoon), roman soldiers, and Apostles. \u00a0Present above all were the namesake figures of the basilica, the Holy Family: the world\u2019s most famous stepdad, Joseph; Jesus himself, the star of the show; and Gaud\u00ed\u2019s personal favorite, Jesus\u2019 mother Mary, who is particularly (and in my opinion, properly) revered here.\u00a0 \u00a0Though my personal favorites were the chameleons and turtles.<\/p>\n

When I mentioned how the dust verse came to mind to Oriol Carrasco, one of the many current architects working on Sagrada Familia today and our expert on the scene, he said, \u201cHmmm, that\u2019s one way of looking at it.\u201d\u00a0 It was the perfect response to a building so full of mystery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If the outside is, as has been described, \u201cthe Bible in stone\u201d, the inside is Gaud\u00ed\u2019s paean to nature and where you see first-hand his genius as an architect.\u00a0 The canopy of the interior\u2019s ceiling floats an almost impossible-seeming distance above the sanctuary\u2019s floor.\u00a0 We were truly in the midst of a forest of stone and light.\u00a0 The almost unadorned interior lay in stark contrast to the ultra-adorned exterior.\u00a0 (About the outside, one of my classmates said, \u201cYou know how Coco Chanel said, \u2018Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.\u2019\u00a0 Gaud\u00ed put everything on.\u201d)<\/p>\n

But Gaud\u00ed wasn\u2019t just inspired by nature visually, but structurally as well.\u00a0 Jordi, our tour guide, said that the sanctuary\u2019s columns were inspired by the stalks of oleander plants with their double spiral structure, which provides stability while remaining thin.\u00a0 When I asked Jordi about why the columns spiral one way in the bottom half and the reverse way above, Carrasco, a PHD Architect, excitedly grabbed my notebook and drew many complicated parabolas that were beyond my comprehension but were beautiful in themselves.\u00a0 Architecture is incredibly complex mathematically, but architects like Carrasco (and Gaud\u00ed) use the equations as a paint brush.<\/p>\n

He said it was all about letting the light in from the beautiful stained-glass windows.\u00a0 And this is where the true universal genius of this building lies: light on stone, growing from cool blues in the morning to warm reds towards sunset, an image that can welcome everyone of every culture and religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

You are dust, and to dust you shall return, same as the Apostles, chameleons, bassoon playing angels (well, maybe not them), and oleander plants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Scoville \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You are dust, and to dust you shall return. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -Genesis 3:19 This is what God said to Adam as he cast him out of Eden, alluding to how He had made humans from the dirt of the ground and that in death they will decompose back into the soil.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22646,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22646"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}