Temple Sagrada Família [antikvár]

Engraving of the city of Barcelona, at the foot of Montjui'c Castle.THE HISTORICAL SETTINGThe Sagrada Família is the prod-uct of the circumstances stemming from its foundation and the unique drive of Antoni Gaudí, who devot-ed more than 40 years of his life as an architect to it. The Catholic faith, which had a strong presence in the origins of Catalonia in the 10th century, again played a leading role in the nation's rebirth -the Renaixenga, or Ren-aissance- one thousand years lat-er, when workers, farmers and in-tellectuals, amongst them the coun-try-born priest and poet Jácint Verdaguer, restored their language to its rightful dignity. The expansion of the city of Bar-celona, with the industrial revolu-tion and the impulse of the bour-geoisie, brought into being a pow-erful capital city where art flour-ished alongside trade and the economy.Catalonia once again opened up to the world, generously regaling it with all its finest and most person-al achievements.At a difficult moment for the Uni-versal Church, a Barcelona book-seller, Josep Maria Bocabella, created the Association of Followers of Saint Joseph to give spiritual and material aid to the Holy See, proposing, moreover, to build a mon-umental church, dedicated to the Holy Family, to be surrounded by gardens, where respectable public