Early in the morning on
this past December 27th a loud crash woke up the residents living
in the neighborhood of Sagrada Familia. The noise was caused by
a 200 kg. block of cement that fell from an altitude of some 45
meters above the sculpture factory on Mallorca Street. Fortunately,
this incident occured at one o'clock in the morning, at which
time there was no one in the factory, thus the consequences were
only a few damages to the covering.
The press took advantage of this incident to
revive the debate over the continuation of the construction
and point out any problems they could find in the construction.
Since the Joint Constructor of Sagrada Familia Directive, they
have attributed the falling rock to "a rare gust of wind" (AVUI
12-28-00). Ramon Espel, technical architect of the church, assured
that all possible safety measures would be taken in order to
avoid any future accidents, although he emphasized that the
construction site is safe as it is.
After two days, all of the fuss was calmed with
the conclusion of the Facade of the Nativity, which was culminated
with the placement of nine sculptures -- the singing angels
-- by Japanese sculptor, Etsuro Sotoo, who has been working
on Sagrada Familia now for 23 years. Gaudí began this facade
in 1892 but only saw the left tower -- dedicated to Saint Barnaby
-- complete, just before his death in 1926.
The finishing of this facade and withdrawl of
the scaffolding from the interior of the central nave vaults
were two objectives that the Joint Construction of Sagrada Familia
Directive had proposed to be realized before the end of the
milenium.
The removal of these scaffolding has made visible
the 45-meter-high brick and Muranese glass vaults. In all, they
cleared away 1700 square meters, and took advantage of the evening
of December 31st to celebrate the New Year, with a mass, the
first one carried out under the nave roof. The mass was led
by cardinal Ricard Mª Carles, 5 auxilary bishops, and 166 priests.
Attending the mass were some 5000 people, among
which were public authorities such as the president of the Generality
of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, the arquitect of Sagrada Familia,
Jordi Bonet i Armengol, and the Director of the Center for Gaudinist
Studies, Luis Gueilburt.
For the occasion, the recently-unvelied vaults
were lit up so that those attending were able to enjoy the interior
view of Sagrada Familia that, until that day, was only possible
through imagining what it might look like using the small-scale
models left behind by Gaudí.
If the construction continues at its current
pace, we will be able to enjoy 4500 square meters of the fully
completed nave by the year 2007.
