 FIRST
MISTERY OF THE GLORY OF THE ROSARY |
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CRITICAL
COMMENTARY
Monument commissioned by the Spiritual
League of Our Lady of Montserrat consisting of the First
Mystery of Glory of the Monumental Rosary that was planned
for construction near the sanctuary of Montserrat. The
commission was quite important, as much for its marked
religious character as for the symbolic, given that it
had to represent the resurrection of Christ which, by
analogy, also symbolised the resurrection of Catalonia.
Gaudí conceived the monument incorporating the
natural landscape in his project, as he was doing in the
Church of the Güell Colony and Güell Park. The
works began in 1903, with the levelling of the area and
the perforation of the rock, where he dug a Holy Sepulchre
and placed the coat of arms of Catalonia and one of the
four images that finally set the scene. This, which represented
Christ risen, was the work of the sculptor Josep Llimona
and was cast in bronze and gilded in the Barberí
Foundry in Olot. The layout chosen by Gaudí, expressly
facing the rising sun, meant that the first rays of the
break of dawn would illuminate the image which, in its
turn, would irradiate golden reflections creating an intentional
symbolic effect.
Because of scarce resources, the work slowed considerably
and came to a stop in 1907. Later, it was finished following
a simplified adaptation by the architect Jeroni Martorell.
It was fully inaugurated in 1916.
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