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The strange yet majestic spires
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of the Sagrada Familia
dominate Barcelona's skyline
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as if they were the backdrop
to a science fiction movie.
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This church is the only one of its kind.
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According to Antoni Gaugi, its creator,
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the parabolic spires symbolize the connection
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between gravity and light.
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The highest spire is supposed to be over 550 feet.
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The inner structure of the
church is revolutionary.
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For the first time in the history of architecture,
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strange shapes like these emerge.
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But where do they come from?
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No two columns are alike.
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Every capital is unparalleled.
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Every element of this enigmatic
construction is unique.
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It was designed by its creator
to be a wonder of the world.
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But to this day, it remains unfinished.
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Over decades, countless
people have asked themselves
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what is the concept underlying
this architectural structure?
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Where is the construction plan
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so that we can finish this church,
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the greatest church of Christianity?
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Gaudi's plan was to build the
basilica with five naves,
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a monumental construction
with a total of 18 spires.
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When he died, only one of them had been completed.
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His legacy, the foundation for his church,
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may be incomplete.
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Yet, it is absolutely perfect.
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Everything was carefully planned.
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This is also confirmed by Gaudi
scholar, Cesar Martinell,
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in his memoir.
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When it comes to teaching,
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Gaudi leaves nothing to improvisation.
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The right sentence,
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a sharp-witted remark in the middle of a dialogue
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is always rooted in very careful reflection.
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Hence, the miniature model of the temple
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was not just built on a whim.
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It was supposed to give them important insights.
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Because the problems they
would encounter building it
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would be identical to the ones they would have
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when building the real temple.
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Whoever wants to complete the church
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first has to learn how to read the models.
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They have to crack the code,
decipher the encryption.
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The gypsum puzzle is simultaneously
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the building instructions.
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After the devastations of the Spanish Civil War,
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which began in 1936,
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this is all that remains of the models,
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thousands of broken pieces,
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which are now the only clues
of the architect's vision.
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For decades, scientists have tried everything
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to solve this puzzle,
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but it is only today that we finally have
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a more or less clear understanding
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of Gaudi's construction principle.
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It is a paradoxical system
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in which every piece is different from the next.
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Nevertheless, in their entirety,
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these pieces create an overall image.
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In a way, it is a perfect construction.
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The Sagrada Familia has many secrets.
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What message is it supposed to convey?
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Its creator is about to be beatified.
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He is the missing piece
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to the puzzle surrounding the building.
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Where was he from?
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What was it like at the time he lived?
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What made him the man he was?
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Everything in this church is providence
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including my work as its architect.
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Antoni Gaudi is born in 1852
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in Reus in Southern Catalonia.
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At the time, many people are moving
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from the countryside to the cities
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due to industrialization.
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The metropolitan areas are turning
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into the new social hotspots
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of a new Marxist working class.
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Gaudi's native city is one such hotspot,
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a city which is home to
revolutionists, separatists,
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and militant opponents of the church.
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I have the gift of understanding space
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because I am the son, grandson, and great-grandson
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of a boilermaker, these
generations of people
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whose spatial imagination have prepared me.
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The only thing that overshadows
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Gaudi's childhood is a serious
illness, a rheumatic disease.
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For a child, a rheumatic disease is a disaster.
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Because he is not given enough space
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and his peers exclude him,
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the result is that the child retreats
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to another sphere of life,
which is available to him.
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In the case of Gaudi, it was nature.
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Nature offers a huge variety of experiences.
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In nature, the child
experiences the various winds,
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the tide, and lots of different shapes.
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It may have been these naturally occurring shapes
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that had the biggest impact
on Gaudi's young artistry.
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This was certainly an impulse for his creativity.
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Gaudi seeks to explore nature.
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He wants to understand its laws,
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how the different forces interact
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and what kind of shapes it creates.
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He sees the latter as the blueprint of creation,
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something which contains all geometric shapes.
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He reclaims these natural
shapes for his architecture,
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the spiral shape, the parabolic
shape, the hyperbola,
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which looks like an hourglass.
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Gaudi's organic architecture
doesn't just imitate nature
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like the artists of Art Nouveau do.
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Gaudi visualizes the forces of nature
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at work beneath the surface
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and therefore brings movements to his buildings.
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Gaudi is 17 when he begins to study in Barcelona,
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a Mediterranean city which is about to become
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a European metropolis
Modernity and tradition,
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riot and religious fundamentalism
violently crash here.
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Of all places, one man chooses this city
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characterized by the most
radical anarchy in Europe
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to build a giant church.
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Is he a genius or is he insane?
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This is the question his professors ask themselves
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when they award him his diploma.
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The young architect appears sophisticated
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and deliberately fashionable,
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which might have helped him
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in moving up in Barcelona's society.
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In Barcelona, he also crosses
paths with Eusebi Guell
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who would later become his patron.
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I think they understood each other
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from the very beginning.
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There is one sentence from
my daughter in this book
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which confirms this.
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Gaudi and the Count of Guell
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were two completely different characters.
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They had very different upbringings,
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a different educational background,
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and they belonged to different social classes,
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but they always got along
really well with each other.
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They had a profound connection,
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understanding each other in a fundamental way,
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which often occurs when people
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have similar artistic inclinations.
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Guell, a wealthy textile manufacturer,
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introduces his friend
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to the intellectual circles of the bourgeoisie.
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Gaudi feels comfortable there.
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He meets leading representatives
of art and politics
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and visits the theater and the opera.
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In his heart, however, he
feels a sense of belonging
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to the working class
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whose miserable living conditions worry him.
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These two extremes,
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the conservative core values he believes in
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and the revolutionary ideas he has
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define the conflict that Gaudi
deals with his entire life.
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The synthesis of old and new
becomes his signature theme.
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Originality means go back to the sources,
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the simplicity of the first solutions.
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The struggle between tradition and modernity
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also interferes with the social fabric.
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Old patterns are broken,
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and a new freedom of thought and action
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spreads among large parts of the population.
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In Europe's cities, mass societies develop
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and with them, the first capitalist ideas.
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The pressure to reform is also
felt by the Catholic church.
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As a result, the Pope convokes
the first Vatican Council.
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It is an attempt to suppress
the opening towards modernity
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and the enlightenment that is taking place
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within the church.
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The Catholic church and modernity
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stand in stark contradiction.
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Well, the Catholic church and modernity
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stand in stark contradiction to one another.
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Because modernity has nothing
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but damaged the Catholic church
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in the last 300 to 400 years
since the Enlightenment.
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Therefore, the church had to come up with ways
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to defend itself.
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One of them was the so-called
Oath Against Modernism.
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Even I still had to take it.
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This oath against modernism,
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which is written in Latin of course,
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contains everything the
Catholic church doesn't like.
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For example, philosophers like
Hegel and Kant and so forth.
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All of this was a loss of power.
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To bring people back
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to the tenant of the Catholic church,
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that was the original mission
of the expiatory temple
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of the Sagrada Familia.
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This church of the poor is supposed to be financed
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exclusively from donations.
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After just one year,
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when they just begin building the crypt,
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the diocese architect resigns.
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Josep Maria Bocabella, the
church project's initiator,
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makes a surprising choice for his successor.
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Bocabella's decision
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to commission the continuation of the works
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at the Sagrada Familia to Gaudi was controversial.
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At the time, Gaudi was not a religious person,
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let alone a Catholic.
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Also, he was involved in several projects,
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which traditional Catholics
viewed as a contradiction
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to the Catholic church.
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Bocabella's enthusiasm
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for Gaudi's concept catches on.
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His design envisages a much statelier building
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than that of the first architect.
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He was aware of his talent.
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He thought of himself as an architectural genius,
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and he felt that by building a major cathedral
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in ten years time, he would rank
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among the world's greatest architects
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at the age of 43 or 45,
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but he was not in the least
driven by any religious motives.
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The temple has to inspire
a feeling of divineness.
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With all the corresponding facets
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and its unlimited possibilities,
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in the temple, grandeur and
rigor have to be united.
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Gaudi begins to modify the Neo-Gothic design
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according to his own ideas.
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Does he want to honor the name
of God or primarily his own?
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Does he support Catholic anti-modernism?
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Or does he want to respond to it
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with a cathedral of modernism
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that contradicts any tradition
of church architecture?
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00:14:23,167 --> 00:14:27,142
It is written in the Gospel of John,
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"God must be worshiped in spirit,
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"not in this or that place."
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That means the historical Jesus
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took the bread out of the mouth
of all church architects,
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all Christian church architects.
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Mister Gaudi must have felt that.
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That, putting up this kind of structure
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in the landscape or rather in the cityscape
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is something that contradicts the will of Christ,
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and that he also did something
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that he might have found revolting,
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which is turning the spectator's
eye up towards the sky.
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While the Christian idea,
the basic Christian idea,
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is to pray to a child in a stable.
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We were directed downwards
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to things concealed, to small things.
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That is a major contradiction.
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While Gaudi, almost in passing,
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designs this gigantic plan,
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which posterity will need a
long time to understand,
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he manages to become an acclaimed architect
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for the rich upper class.
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Many jobs are commissioned to him
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by his friend Eusebi Guell.
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It is a good time for architects.
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00:15:52,665 --> 00:15:56,640
During the era of modernism,
the Catalan Art Nouveau,
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the upper classes are loosening
their purse strings.
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Hundreds of buildings are commissioned.
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Those who can afford it hire Gaudi.
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In other places, construction is going on as well.
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Things from nature become the
central element of an era,
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00:16:31,660 --> 00:16:33,379
the Art Nouveau.
267
00:16:33,380 --> 00:16:37,213
All across Europe, people revel in its beauty.
268
00:16:38,717 --> 00:16:40,715
Different though the details are,
269
00:16:40,716 --> 00:16:43,361
its romantic playfulness connects cities
270
00:16:43,362 --> 00:16:46,445
as different as Barcelona and Vienna.
271
00:16:48,066 --> 00:16:51,796
Vienna, the world's capital of Art Nouveau.
272
00:16:51,797 --> 00:16:54,172
The buildings are defined by curved forms
273
00:16:54,173 --> 00:16:58,004
and delicately chiseled ornamentation.
274
00:16:58,005 --> 00:17:01,116
However, behind the decorative facades,
275
00:17:01,117 --> 00:17:04,093
there is a smoldering fear of the bourgeoisie
276
00:17:04,094 --> 00:17:07,715
being snowballed by modern developments.
277
00:17:07,716 --> 00:17:10,237
Progress has become inexorable,
278
00:17:10,238 --> 00:17:11,964
and there is a growing desire
279
00:17:11,965 --> 00:17:14,549
that everything should stay the way it is.
280
00:17:19,296 --> 00:17:21,912
There is a certain discomfort in the air,
281
00:17:21,913 --> 00:17:23,887
but apparently nobody anticipates
282
00:17:23,888 --> 00:17:26,721
the catastrophe that is impending.
283
00:17:31,984 --> 00:17:33,391
Does Gaudi sense the abyss
284
00:17:33,392 --> 00:17:35,960
towards which the continent is drifting?
285
00:17:35,961 --> 00:17:40,042
Why is his building supposed to
be a church of conciliation?
286
00:17:44,098 --> 00:17:47,730
While the 20th century is
forecasting its dark shadows,
287
00:17:47,731 --> 00:17:51,433
in the house of Eusebi Guell,
the art-loving patron,
288
00:17:51,434 --> 00:17:54,936
the music of Richard Wagner is much appreciated.
289
00:17:54,937 --> 00:17:56,824
Wagner is triumphantly popular
290
00:17:56,825 --> 00:17:59,482
among Barcelona's upper classes.
291
00:17:59,483 --> 00:18:00,801
His opus is perceived
292
00:18:00,802 --> 00:18:04,784
as quite the cultural and musical avant-garde.
293
00:18:04,785 --> 00:18:07,808
Wagner is the acknowledged hero of Art Nouveau.
294
00:18:07,809 --> 00:18:09,323
Antoni Gaudi looks up to him
295
00:18:09,324 --> 00:18:11,991
with a great deal of admiration.
296
00:18:16,334 --> 00:18:18,711
Gaudi was a very withdrawn person,
297
00:18:18,712 --> 00:18:21,989
very shy when interacting with other people.
298
00:18:21,990 --> 00:18:24,757
He only had a few friends in which he confided.
299
00:18:24,758 --> 00:18:28,095
On the other hand, he never wrote about himself.
300
00:18:28,096 --> 00:18:29,526
From our point of view,
301
00:18:29,527 --> 00:18:31,596
there are large gaps in his private life
302
00:18:31,597 --> 00:18:34,014
which still remain a mystery.
303
00:18:37,295 --> 00:18:39,607
Gaudi falls in love several times.
304
00:18:39,608 --> 00:18:41,951
He gets engaged at least twice,
305
00:18:41,952 --> 00:18:45,185
but his wish for a family
remains unfulfilled.
307
00:18:47,238 --> 00:18:50,821
God doesn't want me to marry.
308
00:18:52,945 --> 00:18:55,727
Is Gaudi disappointed by life itself,
309
00:18:55,728 --> 00:19:00,272
or does he perceive those
failures as a sign from above?
310
00:19:00,273 --> 00:19:03,940
Is it his destiny to become God's architect?
311
00:19:05,312 --> 00:19:07,728
He reads up on liturgy everyday.
312
00:19:07,729 --> 00:19:11,510
By and by, he starts to withdraw
from all things secular.
313
00:19:11,511 --> 00:19:15,462
He fasts regularly, sometimes in an obsessive way.
314
00:19:15,463 --> 00:19:18,296
Once, it almost cost him his life.
315
00:19:21,686 --> 00:19:22,519
Gaudi is commissioned
316
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:26,602
to continue the Sagrada Familia at the age of 31.
317
00:19:27,538 --> 00:19:28,897
He is an ambitious young man,
318
00:19:28,898 --> 00:19:32,874
but then he crosses into another realm.
319
00:19:32,875 --> 00:19:37,635
The Sagrada Familia gnaws at him from the inside.
320
00:19:41,317 --> 00:19:42,826
Is it Gaudi's own conviction
321
00:19:42,827 --> 00:19:46,090
that makes him follow the path of expiation?
322
00:19:46,091 --> 00:19:47,428
Does he sense that this task
323
00:19:47,429 --> 00:19:51,648
exceeds the abilities of a single person?
324
00:19:51,649 --> 00:19:56,138
Is this his way of soliciting
help from the divine?
325
00:19:56,139 --> 00:19:58,532
The biblical prophets fasted as well
326
00:19:58,533 --> 00:20:00,484
in order to gain clarity,
327
00:20:00,485 --> 00:20:04,652
sometimes to be relieved from
the orders they had received.
328
00:20:11,077 --> 00:20:12,531
In a country like Spain
329
00:20:12,532 --> 00:20:15,365
where anarchism had played a role,
330
00:20:17,291 --> 00:20:20,874
this is an ambitious target, a bold target.
331
00:20:23,301 --> 00:20:27,468
I almost imagine that Gaudi
had a special experience.
332
00:20:29,163 --> 00:20:31,996
At some point, he heard the voice,
333
00:20:33,963 --> 00:20:37,296
though not the physical voice of Christ.
334
00:20:38,431 --> 00:20:40,589
Live in a different way.
335
00:20:40,590 --> 00:20:44,757
If you want to be religious,
you have to change your life.
336
00:20:46,847 --> 00:20:51,014
I believe that he felt there
is a debt he had to pay
337
00:20:53,638 --> 00:20:57,221
and that he himself had to change his life.
338
00:21:07,718 --> 00:21:09,675
Does this spiritual experience
339
00:21:09,676 --> 00:21:12,645
sharpen Gaudi's eye to the events of his time,
340
00:21:12,646 --> 00:21:15,309
which he perceives as sinful?
341
00:21:15,310 --> 00:21:19,143
Does he counter it with a monumental memorial?
342
00:21:25,305 --> 00:21:27,138
On November 7th, 1893,
343
00:21:28,221 --> 00:21:31,348
Barcelona undergoes
a day of horror.
345
00:21:31,349 --> 00:21:34,941
An anarchist throws two bombs into the Liceu,
346
00:21:34,942 --> 00:21:37,853
the musical temple of the bourgeoisie.
347
00:21:37,854 --> 00:21:39,604
20 people are killed.
348
00:21:44,430 --> 00:21:48,270
Gaudi visualizes his deep-felt
sentiments on the events,
349
00:21:48,271 --> 00:21:51,459
cast in stone, a bomb thrower
stalking his victims.
350
00:21:54,929 --> 00:21:59,154
Opposite him, a woman is
possessively clutching her purse.
351
00:21:59,155 --> 00:22:02,297
The deadly sins, wrath and greed.
352
00:22:02,298 --> 00:22:06,991
For Gaudi, they are a symbol
of an era going off course.
353
00:22:11,275 --> 00:22:12,562
What is looming in the tensions
354
00:22:12,563 --> 00:22:16,274
that can be felt in Barcelona
will on a global scale
355
00:22:16,275 --> 00:22:20,800
become the seminal catastrophe
of the 20th century.
356
00:22:22,169 --> 00:22:25,773
Vast numbers die on the
battlefields of World War I,
357
00:22:25,774 --> 00:22:27,821
which is going to rip the entire era
358
00:22:27,822 --> 00:22:30,550
from its dream of bourgeois idle,
359
00:22:30,551 --> 00:22:33,284
a dream that had been dreamt by nouveau art
360
00:22:33,285 --> 00:22:36,260
in such a beautiful and perfect way.
361
00:22:36,261 --> 00:22:38,762
Did Gaudi suspect it?
362
00:22:38,763 --> 00:22:41,764
Was his inner conflict between modernism
363
00:22:41,765 --> 00:22:45,403
and the longing for order and steadiness so great
364
00:22:45,404 --> 00:22:47,587
that it made him intuit the sin
365
00:22:47,588 --> 00:22:49,962
which his era was ready to commit
366
00:22:49,963 --> 00:22:53,295
without having any idea of the kind of apocalypse
367
00:22:53,296 --> 00:22:55,046
it was tumbling into?
368
00:22:58,522 --> 00:23:00,425
Gaudi is a mystic.
369
00:23:00,426 --> 00:23:02,986
As such, he does not remove himself from reality
370
00:23:02,987 --> 00:23:06,865
but understands that as something
that has to be changed,
371
00:23:06,866 --> 00:23:11,024
a reality which he changes and is shaking the era.
372
00:23:11,025 --> 00:23:14,108
The tragic week of Barcelona in 1909,
373
00:23:15,098 --> 00:23:17,848
World War I, the Weimar Republic,
374
00:23:18,825 --> 00:23:21,657
a difficult inter-war period.
375
00:23:21,658 --> 00:23:25,785
Amidst it all, Gaudi is
building his new Jerusalem,
376
00:23:25,786 --> 00:23:27,816
his Sagrada Familia
377
00:23:27,817 --> 00:23:30,240
and turns it into something
that rises up to the sky
378
00:23:30,241 --> 00:23:32,020
that does not descend.
379
00:23:32,021 --> 00:23:33,564
Because, of course, it is God
380
00:23:33,565 --> 00:23:36,262
who brings the new Jerusalem to Earth.
381
00:23:38,133 --> 00:23:40,620
The new Jerusalem is a biblical image
382
00:23:40,621 --> 00:23:44,180
from the Revelation of Saint John.
383
00:23:44,181 --> 00:23:48,901
It describes a new city that
is sent down to Earth by God.
384
00:23:48,902 --> 00:23:53,069
In this new city, peace and
justice will reign at last.
385
00:23:56,843 --> 00:23:58,602
It's not about the church,
386
00:23:58,603 --> 00:24:02,058
not about piety, not about contemplation.
387
00:24:02,059 --> 00:24:04,580
It's about the political situation.
388
00:24:04,581 --> 00:24:07,562
This church can also be
understood as an open symbol
389
00:24:07,563 --> 00:24:10,419
for a more equitable political world
390
00:24:10,420 --> 00:24:12,354
He breaks the first ground.
391
00:24:12,355 --> 00:24:15,188
Its completion remains open.
392
00:24:16,282 --> 00:24:20,449
Gaudi takes this biblical vision seriously.
393
00:24:26,283 --> 00:24:30,168
Look, God's dwelling place
is now among the people,
395
00:24:31,412 --> 00:24:33,052
and he will dwell with them.
396
00:24:33,053 --> 00:24:36,276
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
397
00:24:36,277 --> 00:24:40,444
There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain.
398
00:24:44,356 --> 00:24:46,307
Mourning, crying, and pain
399
00:24:46,308 --> 00:24:49,003
were what shaped the times of biblical John.
400
00:24:49,004 --> 00:24:52,787
In an intricate way, he accuses his era.
401
00:24:56,053 --> 00:24:58,036
The Revelation of Saint John
402
00:24:58,037 --> 00:25:01,099
mentions the horror of Babylon.
403
00:25:01,100 --> 00:25:03,580
This horror of Babylon is a code
404
00:25:03,581 --> 00:25:08,028
for the contemporary, now historical Roman empire
405
00:25:08,029 --> 00:25:10,492
and the Roman emperors.
406
00:25:10,493 --> 00:25:13,315
It is was very common in oppositional literature
407
00:25:13,316 --> 00:25:16,566
to encrypt, to encode things like that.
408
00:25:17,451 --> 00:25:19,252
What literature does with words,
409
00:25:19,253 --> 00:25:21,707
Gaudi did with architecture.
410
00:25:21,708 --> 00:25:24,375
He, too, uses an encrypted code.
411
00:25:39,991 --> 00:25:41,274
Gaudi starts having doubts
412
00:25:41,275 --> 00:25:43,990
about his rather ambitious project.
413
00:25:43,991 --> 00:25:44,991
Why?
414
00:25:46,062 --> 00:25:50,127
Because he will experience pain and suffering.
415
00:25:50,128 --> 00:25:53,370
Because he feels the effects
that fasting has on his body,
416
00:25:53,371 --> 00:25:58,073
and because he will undergo
spiritual transformation.
417
00:25:58,074 --> 00:26:01,491
Very slowly he reaches another dimension,
418
00:26:02,690 --> 00:26:07,513
the dimension of a person who
knows poverty and humbleness.
419
00:26:07,514 --> 00:26:09,931
And then at just that moment,
420
00:26:10,991 --> 00:26:13,721
he attained amazing creativity.
421
00:26:13,722 --> 00:26:16,953
Because creativity is the result of renunciation
422
00:26:16,954 --> 00:26:20,621
not of a thirst for glory or personal pride.
423
00:26:25,803 --> 00:26:26,859
Increasingly,
424
00:26:26,860 --> 00:26:29,675
Gaudi is concentrating on his one task,
425
00:26:29,676 --> 00:26:32,586
to translate the mission of medieval cathedrals
426
00:26:32,587 --> 00:26:35,127
into a sacred place of modernism,
427
00:26:35,128 --> 00:26:38,128
to reinvent the old order of things.
428
00:26:48,019 --> 00:26:51,051
He talked about helicoidal,
spiral-shaped columns
430
00:26:51,052 --> 00:26:52,594
with a stellar parabolic plane
431
00:26:52,595 --> 00:26:55,544
which wind into opposite
directions at the same time
432
00:26:55,545 --> 00:26:57,545
intersecting each other.
433
00:27:00,896 --> 00:27:02,207
He said that the resulting form
434
00:27:02,208 --> 00:27:06,775
was the summary of all columns that ever existed.
435
00:27:06,776 --> 00:27:09,181
He claimed that the spiral shape
was essential for a column
436
00:27:09,182 --> 00:27:10,471
and that nature proved it
437
00:27:10,472 --> 00:27:14,222
with many trees growing in a spiral-like way.
438
00:27:16,889 --> 00:27:18,559
The columns of the Sagrada Familia
439
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,656
do not need ornamentation.
440
00:27:20,657 --> 00:27:22,640
They are the daughters of a synthesis
441
00:27:22,641 --> 00:27:25,974
carrying everything inside them already.
442
00:27:35,752 --> 00:27:40,070
Imagine a column with a square plinth.
443
00:27:40,071 --> 00:27:41,687
Gaudi invents a column
444
00:27:41,688 --> 00:27:45,565
that is the intersection of two columns.
445
00:27:45,566 --> 00:27:47,821
We certainly know the baroque columns,
446
00:27:47,822 --> 00:27:49,958
spiral-shaped, Solomonic columns
447
00:27:49,959 --> 00:27:52,543
that can wind in either direction.
448
00:27:52,544 --> 00:27:54,750
When those two columns are combined,
449
00:27:54,751 --> 00:27:57,775
you have the column invented by Gaudi.
450
00:27:57,776 --> 00:28:00,543
When the square plinth turns in one direction,
451
00:28:00,544 --> 00:28:02,377
it generates a spiral.
452
00:28:03,546 --> 00:28:07,663
When it turns in the other,
it generates another spiral.
453
00:28:07,664 --> 00:28:10,297
But when it turns in both directions,
454
00:28:10,298 --> 00:28:13,344
the knot slowly disappears,
455
00:28:13,345 --> 00:28:16,428
and the square turns into an octagon,
456
00:28:17,594 --> 00:28:20,011
then into a 16-sided polygon,
457
00:28:21,714 --> 00:28:23,297
a 32-sided polygon,
458
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:25,530
a 64-sided one,
459
00:28:26,653 --> 00:28:30,342
and in the end, after an infinite number of turns,
460
00:28:30,343 --> 00:28:33,150
there is a circle, which we can never reach
461
00:28:33,151 --> 00:28:35,901
because we cannot reach infinity.
462
00:28:36,783 --> 00:28:40,493
Gaudi gave a theological meaning to these columns.
463
00:28:40,494 --> 00:28:44,078
He said that they are like souls contemplating God
464
00:28:44,079 --> 00:28:46,162
who is an infinite being.
465
00:28:51,750 --> 00:28:53,934
Geometric shapes and coding schemes
466
00:28:53,935 --> 00:28:57,526
are the indispensable elements
of order in Gaudi's system.
467
00:28:57,527 --> 00:29:00,063
But why doesn't he leave behind a master plan
468
00:29:00,064 --> 00:29:02,446
for the Sagrada Familia?
469
00:29:02,447 --> 00:29:03,830
Why does he solely rely
470
00:29:03,831 --> 00:29:06,708
on the oral transmission of a building concept
471
00:29:06,709 --> 00:29:08,376
which is so complex?
472
00:29:09,319 --> 00:29:13,486
Without a plan, his successors
face enormous difficulties.
473
00:29:14,334 --> 00:29:15,638
Did he do it because he feared
474
00:29:15,639 --> 00:29:17,479
that his work could then be taken over
475
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,574
by one of the two sides,
476
00:29:19,575 --> 00:29:23,976
that his message to the world could be exploited?
477
00:29:30,229 --> 00:29:31,463
At the turn of the century
478
00:29:31,464 --> 00:29:34,072
and during a difficult political climate,
479
00:29:34,073 --> 00:29:38,240
Gaudi's building now carries
an important symbolic meaning.
480
00:29:39,823 --> 00:29:42,663
Some are looking forward to
the completion of the church
481
00:29:42,664 --> 00:29:46,471
while others would like nothing
better than to burn it down.
482
00:29:46,472 --> 00:29:49,489
Others in turn want to control it.
483
00:29:53,177 --> 00:29:54,849
Was Gaudi protecting his church
484
00:29:54,850 --> 00:29:57,833
so it couldn't be taken over by someone else?
485
00:29:57,834 --> 00:30:01,473
Or did he simply regard it as
unnecessary to have a plan
486
00:30:01,474 --> 00:30:05,641
because, to him, his vision
of the church was so clear?
487
00:30:09,162 --> 00:30:11,090
While searching for any kind of system
488
00:30:11,091 --> 00:30:13,097
in the construction of the columns,
489
00:30:13,098 --> 00:30:16,282
the former chief architect of the Sagrada Familia
490
00:30:16,283 --> 00:30:19,618
almost by accident finds a numbering system,
491
00:30:19,619 --> 00:30:23,786
which seems to determine the
structure of the basilica.
492
00:30:28,839 --> 00:30:30,759
From the entrance to the apse,
493
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:33,534
the church is 90 meters long.
494
00:30:33,535 --> 00:30:37,702
If you divide that by 12,
the result is 7.5 meters.
495
00:30:40,479 --> 00:30:43,562
So you have units of 7.5 meters each.
496
00:30:48,829 --> 00:30:50,412
And then I realized
497
00:30:51,409 --> 00:30:53,742
this here is 90 meters long.
498
00:30:57,310 --> 00:31:00,306
The nave is 45 meters wide,
499
00:31:00,307 --> 00:31:02,557
which is 90 divided by two.
500
00:31:04,642 --> 00:31:08,809
The transept is 60 meters, which is 2/3,
501
00:31:11,097 --> 00:31:13,680
and 1/3 would be 30.
502
00:31:16,083 --> 00:31:18,049
When I realized that it's 45 meters
503
00:31:18,050 --> 00:31:20,737
from the foundation to the vault,
504
00:31:20,738 --> 00:31:23,393
which is 90 divided by two,
505
00:31:23,394 --> 00:31:25,811
it is 15 meters to the choir,
506
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,227
30 to the side aisle
507
00:31:35,456 --> 00:31:38,373
and 45 meters to the central aisle,
508
00:31:40,376 --> 00:31:41,876
75 in the transept
509
00:31:44,585 --> 00:31:46,168
and 90 in the apse.
510
00:31:47,488 --> 00:31:50,405
Everything is in these proportions.
511
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:59,135
90 meters to 60 meters to 45 meters,
512
00:31:59,136 --> 00:32:02,967
which means one to 2/3 to 1/2.
513
00:32:02,968 --> 00:32:06,968
Why exactly did Gaudi choose these measurements?
514
00:32:14,004 --> 00:32:15,258
If we look at the measurements,
515
00:32:15,259 --> 00:32:19,763
90, 60, 45, one thing that
immediately comes to mind
516
00:32:19,764 --> 00:32:22,381
are the associations with the temple in Jerusalem
517
00:32:22,382 --> 00:32:24,299
described in the Bible.
518
00:32:25,860 --> 00:32:28,946
But even more important is the
Tabernacle in the desert,
519
00:32:28,947 --> 00:32:33,188
which the Israelites take
with them through the desert.
520
00:32:33,189 --> 00:32:36,365
This shrine in the desert
is divided into two parts,
521
00:32:36,366 --> 00:32:39,533
the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.
522
00:32:42,621 --> 00:32:44,914
If one ell is 45 centimeters,
523
00:32:44,915 --> 00:32:49,082
the Holy of Holies was about
4.5 square meters big.
524
00:32:51,214 --> 00:32:55,900
The Holy Place would have
been 9 meters by 4.5 meters.
525
00:32:55,901 --> 00:32:57,700
So these measurements are quite similar
526
00:32:57,701 --> 00:33:00,947
to those in the Sagrada Familia.
527
00:33:00,948 --> 00:33:03,699
The similarity of the measurements
is even more striking
528
00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:08,155
within Solomon's Temple, the
big temple in Jerusalem.
529
00:33:08,156 --> 00:33:10,157
Again, this temple is divided
530
00:33:10,158 --> 00:33:13,419
into the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.
531
00:33:13,420 --> 00:33:16,764
The Holy Place would have been 18 meters long.
532
00:33:16,765 --> 00:33:19,452
Bear in mind that Gaudi wanted his highest tower
533
00:33:19,453 --> 00:33:21,453
to be a 180 meters tall.
534
00:33:22,478 --> 00:33:26,145
So this would be a direct reference to that.
535
00:33:27,421 --> 00:33:29,427
The Holy of Holies, on the other hand,
536
00:33:29,428 --> 00:33:31,661
was described as a cube
537
00:33:31,662 --> 00:33:35,436
with measurements of nine by nine by nine meters.
538
00:33:35,437 --> 00:33:38,748
So the 90 meters that we
encounter in the Sagrada Familia
539
00:33:38,749 --> 00:33:43,069
again and again could very
well be a reference to that.
540
00:33:45,903 --> 00:33:46,940
It is fair to assume
541
00:33:46,941 --> 00:33:49,836
that Gaudi referenced these biblical measurements.
542
00:33:49,837 --> 00:33:51,290
For him to know them all,
543
00:33:51,291 --> 00:33:54,958
he must have studied the Bible meticulously.
544
00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:57,612
The inner structure of his church
545
00:33:57,613 --> 00:34:00,530
is based on the numbers 12 and 7.5.
546
00:34:01,453 --> 00:34:03,286
But why those numbers?
547
00:34:06,524 --> 00:34:09,266
According to the Jewish Christian numerology,
548
00:34:09,267 --> 00:34:12,434
these numbers have a symbolic meaning.
549
00:34:19,132 --> 00:34:20,620
The year has 12 months,
550
00:34:20,621 --> 00:34:22,946
and there are 12 phases of the moon.
551
00:34:22,947 --> 00:34:24,914
We have the 12 tribes of Israel,
552
00:34:24,915 --> 00:34:26,762
which do carry a significant meaning
553
00:34:26,763 --> 00:34:29,219
because they symbolize the people.
554
00:34:29,220 --> 00:34:31,131
For Christians, the 12 tribes refer
555
00:34:31,132 --> 00:34:35,257
to the numbers of apostles
since Jesus had 12 apostles.
556
00:34:35,258 --> 00:34:39,571
Therefore, the number 12 stands for completeness.
557
00:34:43,533 --> 00:34:47,116
But what about the number 7.5?
558
00:34:52,690 --> 00:34:54,478
The number seven is also an expression
559
00:34:54,479 --> 00:34:56,562
of the work of creation.
560
00:34:56,563 --> 00:34:59,484
God created the world in seven days.
561
00:34:59,485 --> 00:35:02,302
The number seven is, therefore, a crucial element,
562
00:35:02,303 --> 00:35:05,909
which expresses the earthly ideal of being human.
563
00:35:14,223 --> 00:35:15,998
The number eight, on the other hand,
564
00:35:15,999 --> 00:35:20,166
is a number that refers to
the divine, the hereafter.
565
00:35:21,741 --> 00:35:23,565
It is also the number that is mentioned
566
00:35:23,566 --> 00:35:26,029
when Jesus was resurrected.
567
00:35:26,030 --> 00:35:29,280
Sunday is also known as the eighth day,
568
00:35:30,885 --> 00:35:33,909
a day which no longer takes
part in our earthly reality
569
00:35:33,910 --> 00:35:35,942
but in the reality of the divine
570
00:35:35,943 --> 00:35:38,360
where the former is overcome.
571
00:35:44,980 --> 00:35:46,790
You could say that while the number seven
572
00:35:46,791 --> 00:35:49,452
is an expression of our earthly reality
573
00:35:49,453 --> 00:35:51,981
and the attempt to achieve earthly perfection,
574
00:35:51,982 --> 00:35:54,846
the number eight refers to heaven.
575
00:35:54,847 --> 00:35:59,174
Therefore, the visitors of the
Sagrada Familia with its 7.5
576
00:35:59,175 --> 00:36:03,339
find themselves in some
kind of intermediate world.
577
00:36:03,340 --> 00:36:05,148
The cathedral forms a pathway
578
00:36:05,149 --> 00:36:08,671
from the earthly to the divine world.
579
00:36:21,693 --> 00:36:24,309
The Sagrada Familia would not be completed
580
00:36:24,310 --> 00:36:26,189
during his lifetime.
581
00:36:26,190 --> 00:36:27,966
This is the gradual realization
582
00:36:27,967 --> 00:36:30,758
that Gaudi must come to terms with.
583
00:36:30,759 --> 00:36:34,726
It is his wish that his
successors continue his work.
584
00:36:34,727 --> 00:36:37,822
Yet, he doesn't leave behind a plan.
585
00:36:37,823 --> 00:36:40,606
Instead, he translates his building
586
00:36:40,607 --> 00:36:42,845
into a geometrical language
587
00:36:42,846 --> 00:36:44,724
where every component is expressed
588
00:36:44,725 --> 00:36:47,981
by means of a geometrical shape.
589
00:36:47,982 --> 00:36:51,029
His miniature models contain all the information
590
00:36:51,030 --> 00:36:53,310
today's architects need.
591
00:36:53,311 --> 00:36:57,406
However, Gaudi did not count
on his legacy being destroyed
592
00:36:57,407 --> 00:36:59,490
in the Spanish Civil War.
593
00:37:02,687 --> 00:37:05,869
Ever since, his successors
have been trying to decipher
594
00:37:05,870 --> 00:37:10,517
the code to understanding Gaudi's unusual concept.
595
00:37:10,518 --> 00:37:13,662
How does his secret geometrical language work?
596
00:37:13,663 --> 00:37:15,901
What is the logic behind it?
597
00:37:24,470 --> 00:37:25,453
He came up with the idea
598
00:37:25,454 --> 00:37:27,605
to build the vaults of the Sagrada Familia
599
00:37:27,606 --> 00:37:31,157
as hyperbolic-shaped paraboloids,
600
00:37:31,158 --> 00:37:33,991
similar to double-curved surfaces.
601
00:37:36,935 --> 00:37:39,661
But he is afraid to put his idea into practice
602
00:37:39,662 --> 00:37:41,286
for one simple reason.
603
00:37:41,287 --> 00:37:45,524
Something like this has never been done before.
604
00:37:45,525 --> 00:37:47,836
He said that this is not a reason for not doing it
605
00:37:47,837 --> 00:37:52,213
because it is the only way to achieve progress.
606
00:37:52,214 --> 00:37:55,660
But before he tries out his
concept on the Sagrada Familia,
607
00:37:55,661 --> 00:37:58,709
he needs to know that it actually works.
608
00:37:58,710 --> 00:38:02,210
Therefore, he wants to put it to the test.
609
00:38:03,949 --> 00:38:06,019
The small Church of Colonia Guell
610
00:38:06,020 --> 00:38:08,533
becomes Gaudi's test laboratory.
611
00:38:08,534 --> 00:38:11,413
It lies at the center of a working class quarter,
612
00:38:11,414 --> 00:38:13,629
which Guell, with his humanist views,
613
00:38:13,630 --> 00:38:16,963
sets up around one of his new factories.
614
00:38:18,622 --> 00:38:21,446
Unlike in the slums in the industrial areas,
615
00:38:21,447 --> 00:38:25,245
he wants his workers to live in decent housing.
616
00:38:25,246 --> 00:38:27,681
He commissions a close colleague of Gaudi's
617
00:38:27,682 --> 00:38:30,475
to built the entire complex.
618
00:38:30,476 --> 00:38:34,179
Gaudi himself is given the
task of building the church.
619
00:38:39,611 --> 00:38:42,283
Nature is based on an unsystematic principle
620
00:38:42,284 --> 00:38:44,570
in which every single shape is unique.
621
00:38:44,571 --> 00:38:46,355
Yet if you put everything together,
622
00:38:46,356 --> 00:38:49,370
you create a perfectly balanced system.
623
00:38:49,371 --> 00:38:52,299
This is the basic principle
which Gaudi establishes
624
00:38:52,300 --> 00:38:55,827
for his important draft of the Sagrada Familia.
625
00:38:55,828 --> 00:38:57,259
Could this be the explanation
626
00:38:57,260 --> 00:39:00,700
for why there couldn't have
been a construction plan?
627
00:39:00,701 --> 00:39:02,245
It would have meant the formulation
628
00:39:02,246 --> 00:39:06,413
of contradicting hypotheses,
an unsystematic system.
629
00:39:08,820 --> 00:39:12,717
Gaudi sees his building as
a dedication to creation
630
00:39:12,718 --> 00:39:15,885
and as a suitable apology for his era.
631
00:39:16,948 --> 00:39:20,723
This is the mission he pursues
with his last great project,
632
00:39:20,724 --> 00:39:23,057
the Church of Colonia Guell.
633
00:39:26,237 --> 00:39:30,317
Once again, he will be very
much ahead of his time.
634
00:39:30,318 --> 00:39:34,108
His technical visions are part
of a theological mission.
635
00:39:34,109 --> 00:39:37,421
Double-curved surfaces form to a straight lines,
636
00:39:37,422 --> 00:39:39,333
the first hyperbolic paraboloids
637
00:39:39,334 --> 00:39:41,917
in the history of architecture.
638
00:39:43,270 --> 00:39:47,557
The sacred interior made of
inclined and curved surfaces
639
00:39:47,558 --> 00:39:50,140
looks like it was knocked out of a mound.
640
00:39:50,141 --> 00:39:53,253
At the same time, it appears to be light-weighted
641
00:39:53,254 --> 00:39:55,318
and somewhat floating.
642
00:39:55,319 --> 00:39:57,189
Gaudi develops his own technique
643
00:39:57,190 --> 00:39:59,364
for the eccentric little church.
644
00:39:59,365 --> 00:40:02,948
This method is actually over 200 years old.
645
00:40:06,974 --> 00:40:10,049
His discovery was this.
646
00:40:10,050 --> 00:40:13,695
When he used the catenary, that
is a shape forming itself,
647
00:40:13,696 --> 00:40:16,368
an arch with only tensile forces present.
648
00:40:16,369 --> 00:40:18,136
If I turn it upside down,
649
00:40:18,137 --> 00:40:22,304
I get an arch with only
compressive forces present.
650
00:40:26,009 --> 00:40:29,415
Tension, upside down, compression.
651
00:40:29,416 --> 00:40:31,399
That is his simple principle.
652
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,177
It only becomes complicated
when I put weights on it.
653
00:40:35,178 --> 00:40:37,921
Or when I construct a
complicated support structure
654
00:40:37,922 --> 00:40:40,819
like this one, a cross vault
or this complicated structure
655
00:40:40,820 --> 00:40:43,522
as Gaudi designed for the church.
656
00:40:43,523 --> 00:40:45,339
And the result is an entanglement of forces
657
00:40:45,340 --> 00:40:48,199
having effects on each other.
658
00:40:49,395 --> 00:40:51,105
Over the course of 10 years,
659
00:40:51,106 --> 00:40:54,002
the visionary develops a gigantic suspended model
660
00:40:54,003 --> 00:40:56,169
of the Church of Colonia Guell,
661
00:40:56,170 --> 00:40:58,420
19 feet long, 13 feet high.
662
00:41:00,127 --> 00:41:02,153
His technique is unique.
663
00:41:02,154 --> 00:41:04,440
Small weights are tied to threads,
664
00:41:04,441 --> 00:41:06,520
proportionally equivalent to the weight
665
00:41:06,521 --> 00:41:10,271
each building component is designed to carry.
666
00:41:18,346 --> 00:41:20,498
The tension created by the weights
667
00:41:20,499 --> 00:41:23,785
gives the threads their spatial shape.
668
00:41:23,786 --> 00:41:26,194
Their positions and force ratios
669
00:41:26,195 --> 00:41:30,065
correspond to those on the future building.
670
00:41:30,066 --> 00:41:31,840
The threads show the arched lines
671
00:41:31,841 --> 00:41:34,174
as determined by the forces.
672
00:41:35,658 --> 00:41:37,729
Upside down, the model reveals
673
00:41:37,730 --> 00:41:41,230
the building's logical construction lines.
674
00:41:47,739 --> 00:41:50,391
Gaudi's suspended model does not withstand
675
00:41:50,392 --> 00:41:52,722
the turmoil of time,
676
00:41:52,723 --> 00:41:56,100
but Professor Graefe and his team of scientists
677
00:41:56,101 --> 00:41:58,257
managed to reconstruct this model
678
00:41:58,258 --> 00:42:02,091
that is unique in the history of architecture.
679
00:42:03,709 --> 00:42:05,907
How could this snarl of threads, however,
680
00:42:05,908 --> 00:42:08,115
have developed into a church?
681
00:42:08,116 --> 00:42:12,459
The first step is to take
a look at what Gaudi did.
682
00:42:14,636 --> 00:42:16,755
Here you see his historical model
683
00:42:16,756 --> 00:42:19,524
with an employee standing next to it.
684
00:42:19,525 --> 00:42:21,124
He hung blankets in there
685
00:42:21,125 --> 00:42:24,548
to make the structure more discernible,
686
00:42:24,549 --> 00:42:28,843
to prevent the eye from looking
right though the threads.
687
00:42:28,844 --> 00:42:31,723
Here you see it all turned upside down,
688
00:42:31,724 --> 00:42:33,796
and this is a picture over which he painted
689
00:42:33,797 --> 00:42:36,214
the front view of the church.
690
00:42:39,916 --> 00:42:41,404
Gaudi's over-paintings,
691
00:42:41,405 --> 00:42:43,362
the recreated suspended model,
692
00:42:43,363 --> 00:42:45,948
and the few realized parts of the building
693
00:42:45,949 --> 00:42:47,972
are the basis for a 3D model
694
00:42:47,973 --> 00:42:52,011
of the never built upper part of the church.
695
00:42:52,012 --> 00:42:53,668
In a research project,
696
00:42:53,669 --> 00:42:57,184
scientists from the Universities
of Innsbruck and Moscow
697
00:42:57,185 --> 00:43:00,113
recreate this small jewel of architecture,
698
00:43:00,114 --> 00:43:03,197
which existed merely in Gaudi's head.
699
00:43:08,394 --> 00:43:09,704
The Crypt has been called,
700
00:43:09,705 --> 00:43:12,329
completely misunderstood in the literature.
701
00:43:12,330 --> 00:43:16,497
It was called bizarre, crazy,
wild, notions like that.
702
00:43:17,339 --> 00:43:19,345
For a long time, experts did not understand
703
00:43:19,346 --> 00:43:20,748
the origins of these forms
704
00:43:20,749 --> 00:43:23,931
and the kind of constructive
consistency behind it.
705
00:43:27,579 --> 00:43:29,505
It looks like a little sister,
706
00:43:29,506 --> 00:43:31,457
the Church of the Colonia Guell
707
00:43:31,458 --> 00:43:34,791
next to the ultra-large Sagrada Familia.
708
00:43:37,075 --> 00:43:40,794
And yet, this small building
contains all the innovation
709
00:43:40,795 --> 00:43:43,962
which will determine the
construction of the Sagrada Familia
710
00:43:43,963 --> 00:43:45,963
in a highly complex way.
711
00:43:46,810 --> 00:43:50,113
The geometrical forms Gaudi gets out of nature
712
00:43:50,114 --> 00:43:52,370
are the building blocks of creation
713
00:43:52,371 --> 00:43:56,427
and as such, the basic element
of the Sagrada Familia,
714
00:43:56,428 --> 00:43:59,261
a building of biblical dimensions.
715
00:44:00,892 --> 00:44:04,339
In 1915, budget problems freeze the construction
716
00:44:04,340 --> 00:44:06,007
of the small church.
717
00:44:06,917 --> 00:44:09,629
Guell is already seriously ill.
718
00:44:09,630 --> 00:44:13,205
When he dies, the project is terminated for good.
719
00:44:13,206 --> 00:44:17,508
For Gaudi, this means giving
up his most unique project.
720
00:44:17,509 --> 00:44:21,092
After 10 years of planning and
six years of construction,
721
00:44:21,093 --> 00:44:24,260
it is a catastrophe for the architect.
722
00:44:26,525 --> 00:44:28,124
On his search for new shapes,
723
00:44:28,125 --> 00:44:30,490
Gaudi delves into the Gothic period,
724
00:44:30,491 --> 00:44:32,824
the era of great cathedrals.
725
00:44:37,189 --> 00:44:39,054
He feels that the system of struts
726
00:44:39,055 --> 00:44:42,221
that is indispensable for this constructive form
727
00:44:42,222 --> 00:44:46,139
is an uninspired auxiliary structure, a crutch.
728
00:44:48,654 --> 00:44:51,151
He refers to the Gothic
style as industrial art
730
00:44:51,152 --> 00:44:55,318
because it repeats elements
without considering proportions.
731
00:44:57,213 --> 00:44:59,786
In order to hide shapes that
are structurally wrong,
732
00:44:59,787 --> 00:45:03,454
ornaments are put in place as a distraction.
733
00:45:05,964 --> 00:45:08,980
He compares this technique
to a hunchback strategy,
734
00:45:08,981 --> 00:45:12,005
who dresses up smartly in order to hide his hunch.
735
00:45:12,006 --> 00:45:13,118
People still see the hunch,
736
00:45:13,119 --> 00:45:16,286
but they act as if they didn't notice.
737
00:45:20,608 --> 00:45:22,449
And really, Gaudi finds a solution
738
00:45:22,450 --> 00:45:25,001
that does not require struts.
739
00:45:25,002 --> 00:45:26,649
He observes someone strolling,
740
00:45:26,650 --> 00:45:29,958
tilting his cane so he can
lean against it to rest.
741
00:45:29,959 --> 00:45:33,150
This noticeably increases his stability.
742
00:45:33,151 --> 00:45:36,153
So Gaudi tilts his columns as well.
743
00:45:36,154 --> 00:45:38,728
Gaudi planned a structure of supporting trees
744
00:45:38,729 --> 00:45:40,229
of tilted columns.
745
00:45:49,274 --> 00:45:52,552
It is a perfect balanced structure.
746
00:45:52,553 --> 00:45:54,856
However, it demands that the weight concentrate
747
00:45:54,857 --> 00:45:57,976
in the upper part of the column.
748
00:45:57,977 --> 00:46:01,951
Gaudi decides to leave the
spaces between the columns empty
749
00:46:01,952 --> 00:46:05,976
in order to make the arches
lighter and to let in the light.
750
00:46:05,977 --> 00:46:10,144
The light can shine through
rooflights and skylights.
751
00:46:11,113 --> 00:46:15,280
The skylights can certainly
be cylindrical like this one.
752
00:46:17,714 --> 00:46:19,492
But to better catch the light,
753
00:46:19,493 --> 00:46:22,225
the skylights should not be vertical.
754
00:46:22,226 --> 00:46:26,396
It should have a tilt that
matches the rays of light.
755
00:46:26,397 --> 00:46:29,291
This shape is better suited to catch the light
756
00:46:29,292 --> 00:46:32,209
and to disperse it in the interior.
757
00:46:35,115 --> 00:46:37,266
This is the hyperboloid.
758
00:46:37,267 --> 00:46:41,226
All arches, skylights, and
windows of the Sagrada Familia
759
00:46:41,227 --> 00:46:42,644
are hyperboloids.
760
00:46:49,523 --> 00:46:52,428
When you look at the arches
and the church windows,
761
00:46:52,429 --> 00:46:55,346
you will see many star-like shapes,
762
00:46:58,716 --> 00:47:01,345
many elements with a circle in the center
763
00:47:01,346 --> 00:47:03,013
and star-like shapes
764
00:47:06,253 --> 00:47:08,786
that develop from those straight lines
765
00:47:08,787 --> 00:47:11,454
in either direction of rotation.
766
00:47:13,384 --> 00:47:14,836
Starting from each point,
767
00:47:14,837 --> 00:47:17,532
there is a straight line to either direction
768
00:47:17,533 --> 00:47:20,230
touching the central circle.
769
00:47:22,324 --> 00:47:24,641
Well, that is Gaudi's secret.
770
00:47:24,642 --> 00:47:26,752
The arches and the church windows
771
00:47:26,753 --> 00:47:30,875
are the cross sections of the hyperboloids.
772
00:47:39,372 --> 00:47:40,363
It took a long time
773
00:47:40,364 --> 00:47:44,530
for the principles of the Sagrada
Familia to be understood.
774
00:47:56,705 --> 00:47:58,866
The image of the heavenly Jerusalem
775
00:47:58,867 --> 00:48:00,746
clearly conveys the message
776
00:48:00,747 --> 00:48:03,156
that no matter what man will start making,
777
00:48:03,157 --> 00:48:05,224
it will never be completed.
778
00:48:05,225 --> 00:48:08,320
Perfection and completion will only be attained
779
00:48:08,321 --> 00:48:09,974
in the end of time.
780
00:48:09,975 --> 00:48:12,581
God will complete and perfect things.
781
00:48:12,582 --> 00:48:16,749
That is true for this church
just as it is for world peace.
782
00:48:18,500 --> 00:48:21,829
In 1914, World War I breaks out.
783
00:48:21,830 --> 00:48:24,792
Spain does not participate in it.
784
00:48:24,793 --> 00:48:27,537
Gaudi spends the last 12 years of his life
785
00:48:27,538 --> 00:48:30,610
fully working on the Sagrada Familia.
786
00:48:30,611 --> 00:48:33,146
Finally, he even installs his workroom
787
00:48:33,147 --> 00:48:34,899
on the construction site
788
00:48:34,900 --> 00:48:37,964
like he wants to become one with his church.
789
00:48:40,780 --> 00:48:42,635
It may not be painful to us,
790
00:48:42,636 --> 00:48:46,531
and we may not complain that I
cannot complete the temple.
791
00:48:46,532 --> 00:48:50,615
If anything, this will make it even more sublime.
792
00:48:56,179 --> 00:49:00,043
He ended the way he started,
as a lonely person.
794
00:49:00,044 --> 00:49:01,955
I wouldn't say he was embittered,
795
00:49:01,956 --> 00:49:05,659
but he was a sad man, a loner,
797
00:49:05,660 --> 00:49:08,825
a man of few words who took flight from things.
798
00:49:08,826 --> 00:49:12,969
He liked to shut himself off in his inner life,
799
00:49:12,970 --> 00:49:15,489
who had a very profound inner life.
800
00:49:15,490 --> 00:49:16,882
I truly believe that.
801
00:49:19,721 --> 00:49:21,291
Every evening, Gaudi visits
802
00:49:21,292 --> 00:49:23,782
the Church of Saint Felip Neri.
803
00:49:23,783 --> 00:49:26,317
It is unknown whether he
went there for confession,
804
00:49:26,318 --> 00:49:29,629
for worship, or for silent contemplation.
805
00:49:29,630 --> 00:49:33,094
Maybe it was the evening light
above the Mediterranean Sea
806
00:49:33,095 --> 00:49:35,345
that drew him to this area.
807
00:49:37,191 --> 00:49:38,974
He says that he has to see the ocean
808
00:49:38,975 --> 00:49:40,670
time and again.
809
00:49:40,671 --> 00:49:42,452
For him, the ocean is the only element
810
00:49:42,453 --> 00:49:46,620
in which he feels that all
three dimensions are combined.
811
00:49:47,829 --> 00:49:50,386
Its surface reflects the sky.
812
00:49:50,387 --> 00:49:51,602
Looking through the surface,
813
00:49:51,603 --> 00:49:55,436
you can see the ocean floor and the movements.
814
00:50:02,499 --> 00:50:03,594
Gaudi was of the opinion
815
00:50:03,595 --> 00:50:06,688
that man takes precedence over machines.
816
00:50:06,689 --> 00:50:09,537
However, his way of thinking had its disadvantages
817
00:50:09,538 --> 00:50:12,217
when he was walking through the streets.
818
00:50:12,218 --> 00:50:14,000
He walked seven miles every day,
819
00:50:14,001 --> 00:50:16,633
thinking about his problems
on the construction site
820
00:50:16,634 --> 00:50:19,720
and not paying attention to the traffic.
821
00:50:19,721 --> 00:50:21,145
He felt that drivers had to stop
822
00:50:21,146 --> 00:50:23,041
when he wanted to cross the street
823
00:50:23,042 --> 00:50:25,768
instead of him having to stop for the cars.
824
00:50:25,769 --> 00:50:27,959
So he had a couple of accidents,
825
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,293
the last of which was fatal.
826
00:50:32,799 --> 00:50:36,070
In the evening of June 7th, 1926,
827
00:50:36,071 --> 00:50:37,998
Gaudi is hit by a tramway
828
00:50:37,999 --> 00:50:41,749
on his way to the Church of Saint Felip Neri.
829
00:50:58,290 --> 00:51:01,242
The most beautiful truth
that I've discovered
831
00:51:01,243 --> 00:51:04,846
is that while Gaudi left the church unfinished,
832
00:51:04,847 --> 00:51:07,182
the truth is that the church formed Gaudi
833
00:51:07,183 --> 00:51:10,433
as a human being in an outstanding way.
834
00:51:12,096 --> 00:51:15,246
To put it differently, Gaudi built this church,
835
00:51:15,247 --> 00:51:18,780
but the church formed Gaudi perfectly.
836
00:51:18,781 --> 00:51:21,182
There's nothing more beautiful,
837
00:51:21,183 --> 00:51:24,647
and that's the answer to why we build this church,
838
00:51:24,648 --> 00:51:28,065
and we are glad that the church forms us.
839
00:51:31,289 --> 00:51:33,950
What I want to convey to my coworkers with this
840
00:51:33,951 --> 00:51:37,630
is that we do not simply build a church.
841
00:51:37,631 --> 00:51:39,631
We also build ourselves.
842
00:51:45,358 --> 00:51:46,797
The Sagrada Familia
843
00:51:46,798 --> 00:51:49,892
draws more than three million visitors every year.
844
00:51:49,893 --> 00:51:54,596
Many of them belong to religions
other than Christianity.
845
00:51:54,597 --> 00:51:57,645
Many don't usually ever enter a church.
846
00:51:57,646 --> 00:51:59,230
The building's aura makes them feel
847
00:51:59,231 --> 00:52:02,898
like they are in a place of immense meaning.
848
00:52:08,165 --> 00:52:11,724
Maybe that is because hardly any person but Gaudi,
849
00:52:11,725 --> 00:52:14,327
any city but Barcelona,
850
00:52:14,328 --> 00:52:17,325
any building but the Sagrada Familia
851
00:52:17,326 --> 00:52:21,326
offers such a direct juxtaposition of contrasts.
852
00:52:23,294 --> 00:52:25,454
A brilliant paradox,
853
00:52:25,455 --> 00:52:29,455
this might be the secret of the Sagrada Familia.
854
00:52:36,942 --> 00:52:39,149
We are at the center of the city's turmoil.
855
00:52:39,150 --> 00:52:41,649
We are amidst the people's pain and suffering,
856
00:52:41,650 --> 00:52:43,817
their longing, their joys.
857
00:52:46,916 --> 00:52:48,434
That makes the Sagrada Familia
858
00:52:48,435 --> 00:52:51,850
an utterly urban place of worship.
859
00:52:51,851 --> 00:52:55,491
The city is the element that
dominates the global world.
860
00:52:55,492 --> 00:52:57,650
Gaudi creates an urban place of worship
861
00:52:57,651 --> 00:53:00,600
because he anticipates this global world.
862
00:53:00,601 --> 00:53:03,017
That makes him a prophet.
863
00:53:07,752 --> 00:53:09,593
The Sagrada Familia,
864
00:53:09,594 --> 00:53:12,311
the expiatory temple of modernism
865
00:53:12,312 --> 00:53:15,271
has been polarizing right from the start.
866
00:53:15,272 --> 00:53:18,496
But maybe this church is not
looking for anything other
867
00:53:18,497 --> 00:53:23,058
than to be a symbol of harmony in a violent world.
868
00:53:23,059 --> 00:53:25,539
The question is whether staying unfinished
869
00:53:25,540 --> 00:53:28,362
might actually help it fulfill its mission
870
00:53:28,363 --> 00:53:31,363
of depicting the heavenly Jerusalem.
67710
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