The Sagrada Família asks for more time from the artists to decide on the Glory facade

BarcelonaOne of the great mysteries that has yet to be solved is what the Sagrada Família will finally look like, and we will still have to wait. At the end of June, the temple's Construction Board presented the board of trustees with the three artistic proposals from Miquel Barceló, Cristina Iglesias, and Javier Marín for the Glory façade, but for now, the debate remains wide open. To the point that, as ARA has learned, the president of the Construction Board, Esteve Camps, has sent a letter to the three artists informing them that the temple needs "more time" to make a decision.

After the board of trustees meeting on June 30th, where the three proposals were internally revealed, this Wednesday's meeting seemed as if it could be decisive for the future of the Glory façade. But in the face of the open debate and the difficulty of resolving it, Camps communicated to those present that he had already conveyed the need for more time to the artists by letter. And that all three had responded by thanking the temple for the message and remaining expectant for news.

In March 2024, the basilica made public that it had commissioned three renowned sculptors to present an artistic proposal for the Glory façade, the last of Antoni Gaudí's temple that still remains to be completed. Those chosen were the Mallorcan Miquel Barceló, the Basque Cristina Iglesias, and the Mexican Javier Marín. In the past, those responsible for the Sagrada Família had been in contact with Jaume Plensa, but the artist declined the proposal because he found it too monumental.

Until now, publicly, the temple has always said that the three projects are being debated and that the decision has not yet been made. On the table, they have said, there is the possibility of commissioning the entire façade to a single artist, separating it into lots so that more than one sculptor can work on it, or even discarding all three proposals. Sources from the temple, however, privately rule out this last extreme.

Despite the secrecy surrounding the artistic proposals submitted by Barceló, Iglesias, and Marín, in conversations about who will end up doing the facade, the Majorcan usually appears as the favorite. He is the only one of whom we have been able to see a small hint of the work he has done. In an exhibition in Almeria about Picasso, he showed a discarded fragment of the model of the relief for the atrium of the Glory facade. He and Marín are more figurative than Iglesias, but the board is also very positively valuing the effort made by the Basque sculptor to adapt to a challenge like that of the Glory facade.

Whatever the final decision may be, what is certain is that it will generate debate. A controversy that the temple hopes will not reach the levels of the polemic that the Passion facade by Josep Maria Subirachs provoked, against which there were even protests. For this reason, last week, the director architect of the Sagrada Família, Jordi Faulí, already asked for patience regarding the Glory facade. "It is an important decision and I think it is logical or important that the necessary time is dedicated to it," he stressed.

A colossal challenge

The three sculptors have worked for months with great secrecy on their proposals for the Glory façade, which will include hundreds of sculptures, distributed in three levels: hell, purgatory, and heaven. Gaudí's idea is that the temple's façade facing Mallorca Street represents the history of humanity from Adam and Eve to the final judgment, and also the teachings of Jesus displayed in the different architectural elements.

As in the whole of the Sagrada Família, on this facade all parts will be assigned a very specific symbolism. One of the most characteristic features of the Glory —which will also have four towers— is that the upper part of the porch will be covered by sixteen large lanterns in the shape of a hyperboloid that will be crowned with cones, reaching about 80 meters. Above these lanterns, as well as on the lower part of the towers, Gaudí planned to place clouds in which the Creed will be inscribed.