'Exquisite ... A wonderment of an essay about a wonderment of a building' Paul Preston
'Exquisite ... A wonderment of an essay about a wonderment of a building' Paul Preston
Its scaffolding-cloaked spires reach up to the heavens, dominating the Barcelona skyline and drawing in millions of visitors every year. What seduces our attention is perhaps a combination: not only its almost megalomaniac ambition and architectural extravagance but the sheer longevity of its construction.
Its creator, Antoni Gaudí, 'God's Architect', saw the first stone laid on 19 March 1882 and yet it is unlikely to be completed until 2026 at the very earliest. It has survived two World Wars, the ravages of the Spanish Civil War and the 'Hunger Years' of Franco's rule. It has defied the critics, the penny-pinching accountants, the conservative town-planners and the slaves to sterile modernism to witness the most momentous changes in society and history.
The Sagrada Familia explores the evolution of this remarkable building, working through the decades right up to the present day before looking beyond to the final stretch of its construction. It is at once a guidebook and a chronological history, and a moving and compelling study of man’s aspiration towards the divine.
Rich in detail, vast in scope, this is a revelatory and authoritative study of a building and its place in history and the genius that created it.
"Terrifically stirring…A gripping firsthand account of Gaudi’s power to melt the mind" - New York Times (praise for 'Gaudi')
"Brilliant" - Observer (praise for 'Guernica')
"The most extraordinary and important biography ... A vivid, painstaking portrait of an almost mediaeval figure brooding over the 20th century" - Independent (praise for 'Gaudi')
"Intoxicating … Instantly engages … Van Hensbergen’s rich, poetic prose is perfectly suited to describe this unprecedented work of art. An engrossing, vivid inquiry into a man and his magisterial creation" - Kirkus
"Fascinating and instructive … Anyone going for the first time should read van Hensbergen’s perceptive interpretation of what he calls Gaudí’s most quixotic work" - Spectator
