| This
is a building for worship, commissioned by Eusebi Güell
for the use of the workers of his textile colony, located
in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, about 20 kilometers
northwest of Barcelona.
Gaudí
began the preparatory studies in 1898, although construction
wasn’t begun until 1908; this was because he used
a relatively laborious and complex system of calculation
for the project: it is called the stereofunicular model.
This consisted of making a floor plan of the future
building, hanging it upside-down from the ceiling, and
hanging wires from both ends to form a curve, from which
weights proportional to those that would have to be
supported by the arch once it was built were hung. The
inverted image of this structure showed the height of
the building projected, allowing one to see the church’s
final structure without having to draw it.
The
complexity of the project slowed down the work on the
temple considerably, and it was stopped when Güell’s
businesses went bankrupt. Although only the portico
of the entry, the crypt, the stairs leading to the church,
and the foundations of one of the bell towers were built,
the importance of its architectural resolution has led
it to be considered one of the architect’s most
emblematic works.
The portico is made up of a forest of inclined columns
of basalt stone and brick, which maintain a direct dialogue
with the surrounding landscape, made up basically of
pines. The columns support polygonal arches, the directrices
of which make up a series of convex vaults with hyperbolic
paraboloids that Gaudí decorated with ceramics
in symbolic shapes. From the portico one can enter the
crypt, with a polygonal, star-shaped floor plan and
pillars of brick and basalt. Originally, the benches
of the church, several stained-glass windows with suggestive
color schemes, and the main altar, designed by Josep
Maria Jujol, were remarkable, but in 1936 the crypt
was assaulted and destroyed. The majority of the benches
(reproduced in 1960), all of the stained-glass windows
(restored in 1980), and the main altar (currently the
one built by the American Peter Harden, in 1965, can
be seen) were all lost.
The
colony was sold in 1943 by Güell’s heirs to
the Bertrand i Serra family, which stopped producing
textiles in 1973 and sold it, in 1984, to the Consorci
de la Colònia Güell, made up of the University
of Barcelona, the Diputació de Barcelona, and
the Consell Comarcal del Baix Llobregat (the County
Council of Baix Llobregat), the current preservers of
Gaudí’s legacy.
Cultural
Item of National Interest since 1969.
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