Temple Sagrada Família [antikvár]

Engraving of the city of Barcelona, at the foot of Montjuic Castle. THE HISTORICAL SETTING The Sagrada Familia is the product of the circumstances stemming from its foundation and the unique drive of Antoni Gaudi, who devoted 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 Renaissance- one thousand years later, when workers, farmers and intellectuals, amongst them the country-born priest and poet Jacint Verdaguer, restored their language to its rightful dignity. The expansion of the city of Bar- celona, with the industrial revolution and the impulse of the bourgeoisie, brought into being a powerful capital city where art flourished alongside trade and the economy. Catalonia once again opened up to the world, generously regaling it with all its finest and most personal achievements. At a difficult moment for the Universal Church, a Barcelona bookseller, 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 monumental church, dedicated to the Holy Family, to be surrounded by gardens, where respectable public