TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/012891/0128430.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.3 KB | 120 lines

                                                                                DESIGN, Page 92

Heresy or Homage in Barcelona?


A chorus of protests greets plans to complete an unfinished
basilica started by a Spanish genius

By MARGOT HORNBLOWER/BARCELONA


    "The Sagrada Familia is . . . the reflection of the soul of
the people. Woe the day that it is halted!"

    -- Catalan poet Joan Maragall


    "It 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


    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.

    But how can an interrupted work of imagination be completed
decades after its creator is gone? In the years since Gaudi's
death in 1926, such admirers as architects Le Corbusier and
Walter Gropius and artists Joan Miro and Antoni Tapies have
demanded a halt to construction, which has been under way in
fits and starts since 1882. Continuing to work on the building,
contends architect Josep Anton Acebillo, is "like adding arms
to the Venus de Milo." Nonetheless, the building continues to
be financed privately -- and enthusiastically -- by
contributors ranging from Catalan nationalists to Japanese
businessmen to American tourists.

    As 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.

    Subirachs' austere, squared-off style is the antithesis of
Gaudi's ornamented surrealism. "My work has nothing to do with
Gaudi's," says the sculptor, 63. Although Gaudi left a 1911
sketch of the Passion facade, Subirachs changed the arrangement
of the sculptures and added controversial touches like a
macabre skull below the crucifix. He gave his Roman centurions
helmets playfully copied from Gaudi-designed chimney pots on
a nearby building. Subirachs denounces his critics as
"hooligans, snobs." Ironically, Subirachs in 1965 signed a
letter protesting the basilica's continuation. But when offered
the sculptural commission, he changed his mind "because I was
given complete freedom."

    The quarrel is entwined in Catalonian politics. A symbol of
the Catholic right, the church was sacked by anarchists in
1936, during Spain's civil war. Gaudi's drawings and plaster
models went up in flames, but molds and photographs survived.
Architect Jordi Bonet, who supervises the construction budget,
says the opponents are "people who don't want a church as the
emblem of our city." Moreover, Subirachs has publicly scorned
the abstract artists favored by city hall in its Olympic
building binge -- and the disdain is mutual. Says poet Joan
Brossa: "Gaudi was avant-garde, but Subirachs is retro-garde."

    On the side of completion, however, was Gaudi himself, who
told his biographer, "All particularly grandiose churches have
taken centuries to complete." Devoutly religious, the aged
architect begged for alms when contributions dwindled. Gaudi
deliberately sketched only an outline of the final facade.
Citing St. Peter's in Rome and cathedrals in Cologne and Reims,
he said, "Another generation will collaborate, as is always the
case with cathedrals that have facades not only by several
authors but also in various styles."

    Architectural education is also a factor. "Gaudi invented
a new system of architecture," says Catalan professor Joan
Bassegoda. "Instead of the geometry of rectangles and circles,
he took his structures from nature, studying what forms allow
trees and humans to grow and stay upright." Hyperbolas,
parabolas, helices and helicoids, the curving, open-ended forms
Gaudi used, were calculated so precisely that computers have
shown his measurements to be perfect. Today computer-driven
diamond saws are cutting Gaudi-designed inclined columns to
support the nave, replacing Gothic architecture's flying
buttresses. "We're still learning from Gaudi's genius," says
Bassegoda.

    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."