05 June 2016

Sagrada Familia is a work
in progress with another
10 years before completion

La Sagrada Família is Barcelona’s most famous building and Antoni Gaudí’s best-loved work (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

For more than four decades, Spanish culture and creativity were disrupted by military juntas in the 1920s, the civil war in the 1930s and the horrors of the Franco’s fascist regime that continued into the late 1970s. Yet, Spanish art, literature and architecture gave us some of the greatest works of the last century, with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró, poets like Federico García Lorca, and writers like Víctor Alba.

Antoni Gaudí, Spain’s most celebrated architect, died 90 years ago on 10 June 1926

When Barcelona began to expand in the late 19th century, there a burst of fresh architectural energy in the Modernista movement, which broke with past styles. The leading light in this movement is Antoni Gaudí, whose work mixes traditional architectural styles with the new, and are a precursor to modern architecture. His most famous and best-loved work is the still-unfinished La Sagrada Família.

Other notable Catalan architects in Barcelona at the time includes Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, although their contribution to the Modernista movement is largely linked to Neo-Gothic works.

Sagrada Família has been under construction since 1882, and has been a controversial building since work first began. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Barcelona and in Spain and is regarded as Gaudí’s masterpiece.

Gaudí’s homage to Barcelona

Gaudí’s first project was designing lampposts in the Plaça Reial in Barcelona (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Like many of my generation, I was strongly influenced in my teenage years by George Orwell’s account of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia. But when I was in Barcelona for an Easter city break, the Basilica of Sagrada Família was the one place I truly wanted to visit.

This towering church is often mistakenly identified as a cathedral. But Barcelona’s cathedral is a Gothic building dating from the 13th century, while Sagrada Família is a church without a parish, a basilica that is still being built and that is funded privately.

Sagrada Família was the inspiration of a Barcelona bookseller, Josep Maria Bocabella. Following a pilgrimage to Rome and Loreto, he founded the Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph), and started raising funds to build a basilica in Barcelona’s new, expanding suburbs.

Gaudí changed the design of Sagrada Família completely, imbuing it with his own distinctive style (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Francesc de Paula del Villar was appointed the architect when the first stone was laid in 1882. He planned a Gothic Revival church of cathedral proportions, but after many disagreements he resigned a year later in 1883, with only the apse crypt complete.

Bocabella then turned to Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) to complete the building. Gaudí was still only 30 and he was certainly an unusual choice at the time; yet he would become Spain’s most celebrated architect. No-one could hardly have realised that he would take the building project in such amazing directions … or that he would never live to see the work completed.

‘A fool or a genius’

Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852. The poor health he suffered as a child shaped his later reticent and reserved character, but also gave him time to study shape and form in nature.

He studied architecture at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture, graduating in 1878. His grades were average and he occasionally failed courses. When presenting him with his degree, the director of the school of architecture, Elies Rogent, said: “We have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius. Time will show.”

Gaudí’s first project was designing lampposts for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona. But his first important commission was the Casa Vicens. At the Paris World Fair in 1878, he impressed the Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who commissioned some of Gaudí’s most outstanding work, including the Park Güell (Güell Park) and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güel.

The Nativity Façade depicts the story of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, amid a chorus of angels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

When Gaudí took over at Sagrada Família in 1883, he changed the design completely, imbuing it with his own distinctive style. By 1889, he had completed the crypt, ringed by a series of chapels, one of which would become his own burial place. In 1904, he put the final touches to the Nativity Façade depicting the story of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, amid a chorus of angels.

The ‘Tragic Week’ in 1909 had a profound impact on Gaudí’s work and personality. He had moved into a house in the Güell Park that had been built as a showcase property for the estate. Gaudí stayed there during the anti-clerical protests and attacks on churches and convents, fearing for the safety of the Sagrada Família.

However, the ‘Cathedral of the Poor’ escaped damage, and from 1915 on Gaudí devoted the rest of his life to Sagrada Família, which became a synthesis of all his architectural discoveries. He said: “My good friends are dead; I have no family and no clients, no fortune nor anything. Now I can dedicate myself entirely to the Church.”

Christ before Pilate … a scene on the Passion Façade (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The first of the basilica’s 18 bell towers, soaring to a height of 100 metres, was completed in 1925. That year, he moved from his house in the Güell Park into Sagrada Família, and lived inside the workshop of the basilica that was now his all-consuming project.

Gaudí lived in a house at Park Güell until he moved into Sagrada Família (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was taking his daily walk to the Church of Sant Felip Neri for his daily prayers and confession. As he walked along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, he was struck by a passing tram. With his shabby clothes and appearance, he was mistaken for a beggar and was left unconscious on the side of the street.

Eventually, a police officer called a taxi and took him to the Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau – another Modernista building, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. But Gaudí received only basic care. By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Father Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him the following day, Gaudí’s condition had deteriorated severely. He died 90 years ago on 10 June 1926 at the age of 73, and he was buried two days later in the crypt of Sagrada Família.

Beyond classification

Gaudí conceived the interior of Sagrada Família as if it were a forest, with a set of tree-like columns divided into branches to support a structure of inter-twined vaults (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Gaudí is regarded as the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his work goes beyond any one style or classification. His place in the history of architecture is that of a creative genius inspired by nature. He developed a style that attained technical perfection and high aesthetic value, and that bore the mark of his character.

His study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms, and at an early stage he was also inspired by oriental arts from India, Persia and Japan. He was also influenced by Walter Pater, John Ruskin and William Morris, key figures in the Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts movements in England.

Gaudí’s place in the history of architecture is that of a creative genius inspired by nature (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Gaudí conceived the interior of Sagrada Família as if it were a forest, with a set of tree-like columns divided into branches to support a structure of inter-twined vaults. He inclined the columns so they could better resist perpendicular pressure on their section. He also gave them a double-turn helicoidal shape (right turn and left turn), as in the branches and trunks of trees. This new technique allowed him to achieve his great architectural goal of perfecting and going beyond Gothic style.

Gaudí’s first works included a set of lampposts for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona. In 1883-1888, he built the Casa Vicens for the stockbroker Manuel Vicens i Montaner.

The entrance buildings at the Park Güell show Gaudí at the height of his creativity (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

At the beginning of the 20th century, his main new project was the Park Güell (1900-1914). This garden complex on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district was planned as a residential estate in the style of an English garden city. The project was unsuccessful – of the 60 plots the site was divided into, only one was sold. But the park entrances and service areas display Gaudí’s genius and put into practice many of his innovative structural solutions.

The dragon has become a symbol of the Park Güell and one of Gaudí’s most recognised emblems (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The main entrance to the park has a building on each side, planned as a porter’s lodge and an office, and the site is surrounded by a stone and glazed-ceramic wall. These entrance buildings show Gaudí at the height of his creativity, and the dragon fountain has become a symbol of the park and one of Gaudí’s most recognised emblems.

The Casa Batlló is one of Gaudí’s largest and most striking works … the façade has warped ruled surfaces, the columns are bone-shaped with vegetable decoration and the balconies have iron railings in the shape of masks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

One of Gaudí’s largest and most striking works is the Casa Batlló (1904-1906). He was commissioned by Josep Batlló i Casanovas to renovate a house first built in 1875 by Emili Sala Cortés. Gaudí focused on the façade, the main floor, the patio and the roof, and built a fifth floor for the staff. The facade is of Montjuïc sandstone cut to create warped ruled surfaces; the columns are bone-shaped with vegetable decoration.

Gaudí kept the rectangular shape of the balconies – with iron railings in the shape of masks – giving the rest of the façade an ascending undulating form. He also faced the facade with ceramic fragments of various colours (trencadís), which Gaudí obtained from the waste material of the Pelegrí glass works.

His chimneys are a prominent feature on the roof, topped with conical caps, covered in clear glass in the centre and ceramics and a cylindrical turret with anagrams of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and Gaudí’s trademark four-armed cross.

The façade of La Pedrera is built of limestone and covered in white tiles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

However, his second most popular building in Barcelona is his Casa Milà or La Pedrera, built in 1906-1910 at Passeig de Gràcia Avenue for Pere Milà i Camps. Gaudí designed the house around two large, curved courtyards, with a structure of stone, brick and cast-iron columns and steel beams. The façade is built of limestone, apart from the upper level, which is covered in white tiles, evoking a snowy mountain. It has a total of five floors, plus a loft made entirely of catenary arches, as well as two large interior courtyards, one circular and one oval.

The features include the staircases to the roof, topped with his four-armed cross, and the chimneys, covered in ceramics and with shapes that suggest mediaeval helmets.

The roof of La Pedrera is topped with Gaudí’s four-armed cross, and the shapes suggest mediaeval helmets (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

A work in progress

The Santa Creu Hospital where Gaudí died was another Modernista building, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Work on Sagrada Família has been going on for over 130 years. Josep Maria Subirachs, who took over from Gaudí, completed the Passion Façade, which draws both criticism and praise for its angular, severe and striking sculptures.

The nave was finally completed on 31 December 2000. But Sagrada Família is not expected to be completed for another 10 years – in 2026, which marks the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.

Gaudí left a deep mark on 20th-century architecture. His admirers include Le Corbusier, and he has inspired many architects, including Santiago Calatrava and Frei Otto. A devout Catholic, his death before the Spanish Civil War means all Catalans and Spaniards are proud of his legacy. In 2003, the Vatican opened the beatification process which puts him on the road towards being canonised a saint.

Work continues on La Sagrada Família … which is expected to be completed in 2026 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Canon Patrick Comerford lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. his feature was first published in June 2016 in the Church Review (Dublin and Glendalough) and the Diocesan Magazine (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory).

Listening to prayers by Samuel
Johnson in Lichfield Cathedral

Early summer sunshine in the grounds of the Hedgehog Vintage Inn on the northern fringes of Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

This is the Second Sunday after Trinity [5 June 2016], and I am back in Lichfild for a short, overnight visit before travelling on to the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, for the annual residential meetings of the trustees and council of the Anglican mission agency, USPG.

I caught the first flight from Dublin to Birmingham this morning, and I am staying at the Hedgehog Vintage Inn on the outskirts of Lichfield, with beautiful rolling Staffordshire countryside beside me, and sweeping views from the grounds out across Lichfield and south towards the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral.

Later this morning, I hope to walk back down Beacon Street to the cathedral for the Choral Eucharist at 11 a.m., celebrated by the Dean of Lichfield, the Very Revd Adrian Dorber, and sung by the Boys’ and Men’s voices of the cathedral choir.

The preacher this morning is Canon Dr Anthony Moore, who is the canon-in-residence this week. He is Vice-Dean and Canon for Liturgy and Formation, with responsibility for oversight of the Cathedral’s Choral Foundation and its musical and educational outreach work with schools, colleges and universities within the Diocese of Lichfield and the region.

The setting this morning is the Communion Service in C and F by the Irish-born composer, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924).

The motet is Grant me, O Lord, a setting by Benjamin Lamb, Director of Music at Lichfield Cathedral, of a prayer written by Samuel Johnson in his diary on Easter Day, 22 April 1764.

This setting was written for the annual service of the Johnson Society in Lichfield Cathedral and features as one of the tracks (No 15) on the new album by Lichfield Cathedral Choir, Inservi Deo:

Grant me, O Lord,
good purposes and steady resolution,
that I may repent my sins,
and amend my life.
Deliver me from the distresses of vain terrour,
and enable me by thy Grace to will and to do what may please thee,
that when I shall be called away from this present state
I may obtain everlasting happiness
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


From Crete to Carlow, and thinking
of Syrian refugee children in Greece

Sorting shoes for Syrian refugee children in Carlow this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

The Greek authorities said yesterday [3 June 2016] that hundreds of refugees were missing or dead after a boat carrying up to 500 migrants sank off the coast of Crete.

With warmer weather and seas in the Mediterranean, smugglers have been packing migrants by the tens of thousands into boats that are not seaworthy to try to reach Europe.

Since January, 205,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, the UN refugee agency said this week, with more than 2,500 deaths this year – the vast majority of them between Libya and Italy.

The Greek Coast Guard said yesterday that on Thursday night it had rescued 342 migrants from an 82-ft long fishing boat that may have been on its way from Egypt to Italy. The vessel had called for urgent assistance after getting into difficulties late on Thursday and began to sink in international waters about 75 nautical miles south of Kaloi Limenes on the southern coast of Crete.

In Greek, the name Καλοί Λιμένες means “peaceful harbour,” and the Acts of the Apostles record how the Apostle Paul landed at “Fair Havens” while he was being taken to Rome as a prisoner and took refuge there during a storm on the Mediterranean (see Acts 27).

Nine dead bodies were recovered at Kaloi Limenes or Fair Havens in the last two days, while 220 migrants have reached Crete. But the death toll is rising even as I write, with some reports saying up to 700 people were on board, according to the Greek coast guard.

As a tiny response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, I spent this morning sorting shoes for children and clothes for refugees in Carlow with an innovative organisation called the Jacket Off Your Back.

During these weeks, the Lectionary is taking us through readings from Saint Luke’s Gospel, and the name of this group has so many resonances for me with Christ’s words in that gospel: ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise’ (Luke 3: 11).

This small group is working from a small, 3,000 sq ft unit at Unit 2, Strawhall Business Park, Athy Road, Carlow, and is trying to provide clothes and shoes for children who arrive from Syria in Greece.

‘The Jacket Off Your Back’ is a new project started by Kevin Kelly, Sue ‘Purple’ Kelly and Emily Deveraux at the end of last November [2015]. They aim to keep homeless people warm and they help both homeless people in Ireland and Syrians in refugee camps in Greece or trying to reach countries like Montenegro, Former Yugoslav Macedonia and Germany.

Kevin Kelly says: “Here is the ambitious bit now, how about we put shoes on one million kids in poor countries and not to forget there might be some in our country too.”

In recent weeks, they have delivered containers of clothes and shoes to Damascus, as well as two pallets or 70 boxes to families living in poverty in Romania.

They are collecting quality clothes, sleeping bags, personal hygiene products and first aid supplies, and preparing 50,000 emergency survival packs for delivery on the ground.

Petros Konsoulas at the ‘Soul of Crete’ stall in Carlow this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

After a morning sifting, sorting and packing, two of us continued on into Carlow to visit the Carlow County Museum on Tullow Street.

But as we made our way to the museum, we could not get away from Crete. At the country market, we came across a stall run by ‘The Soul of Crete,’ an Irish-based company that prides itself on bringing the finest quality, Greek-inspired produce to Ireland.

The company was set up by Petros and Catherine Konsoulas, and they are running their small artisan company at Fenagh, Co Carlow, at the foothills of Mount Leinster.

They use traditional family recipes for their own tahini and their olive oil comes from olive trees that have flourished in Crete for the last 5,000 years.

As we talked – in that that people from Ireland and Greece talk – I realised Petros had worked for a few years in Lychnos, a restaurant in Piskopiano, in the hills above Hersonissos, and we started sharing memories and friendships – Lychnos, Giannis, Mika Villas, Manolis and Lena, Metohi … Would we back this year?

Saint Paul preaching in Athens … a panel on the Comerford Pulpit in Carlow County Museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Carlow County Museum is housed in the former Presentation Convent, and in particular I wanted to see the Comerford Pulpit, which once stood in Carlow Cathedral as a memorial to Bishop Michael Comerford (1830-1895).

This 20 ft carved oak pulpit was included in the list in A History of Ireland in 100 Objects by Fintan O’Toole of The Irish Times.

But even here it was hard to get away from this morning’s work as I looked at the carved oak panels on the side of the pulpit, including one showing Saint Paul preaching in Athens.

Thomas Cobden’s octagon on Carlow Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

I stopped for a few moments in Carlow Cathedral, to pay my respects to Bishop Michael Comerford, who is buried before the High Altar.

The cathedral, with its striking octagonal tower, was designed by the architect Thomas Alfred Cobden (1794-1842).

For most of his career, Cobden worked in Co Carlow and Co Wexford, and his buildings include Braganza, which was built for Sir Dudley Hill and where Bishop Comerford died; Duckett’s Grove; Russellstown Park; Wells House, built for the Doyne family near Gorey; the Tudor-revival Ballykealey House, near Ballon; the Roman Catholic church in Killeshin; and the Presbyterian or ‘Scots’ church in Carlow.

Cobden also designed an octagon for Saint Columba’s Church, Tullow, a choice may have been influenced by AWN Pugin, who was inspired by the octagon in Ely Cathedral.

There were more hints and memories of the Mediterranean when we decided to have lunch in the Med Bar in Tullow Street, on the corner next to the museum. In today’s summer sunshine, we could have been eating in a restaurant in Rethymnon or Piskopiano.

Duckett’s Grove … now in ruins but once a masterpiece by Thomas Cobden that dominated the landscape of Co Carlow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

If Carlow Cathedral is Cobden’s great achievement in ecclesiastical architecture, then Duckett’s Grove is most amazing work of domestic architecture.

On the road back from Carlow, we decided to stop at Duckett’s Grove for double espressos.

Duckett’s Grove, now in ruins, is about 9 or 10 km from both Carlow and Tullow and once stood at the centre of a 12,000 acre (49 sq km) estate.

The house was built around 1830 by Cobden for William Duckett who took a two-storey Georgian country house and turned it into a castellated Gothic revival castle. The Georgian features were removed or hidden as Cobden created towers and turrets in variety of shapes – round, square and octagon.

One tall octagonal turret rises from the building, and Duckett’s Grove is elaborately ornamented with oriels and niches that were once filled with statues.

The last male member of the family, William Duckett, died in 1908. His widow, Maria Georgina Duckett, lived on there until 1916, but she disinherited her only daughter, Olive.

With the departure of the Ducketts, the estate was managed by an agent. During the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), Máire Comerford (1893-1982) sheltered in Duckett’s Grove, and later she was in charge of a Cumann na mBan unit that looked after the upkeep of the mansion while it was occupied by the Irish Army before the split and the Civil War.

The abandoned gate lodges at Duckett’s Grove (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Eventually the estate and the lands at Duckett’s Grove were divided and sold, and the crumbling Gothic mansion at Duckett’s Grove was left empty and uninhabited, supposedly with its interiors and furniture intact. But the house was destroyed by a fire on the night of 20 April 1933.

In September 2005, Carlow County Council acquired Duckett’s Grove and began restoring the two inter-connecting walled gardens.

We had our afternoon coffee in the Tea Rooms in the courtyard at Duckett’s Grove. Behind us were the ruins of this once great mansion which continues to loom over the landscape of Co Carlow.



If you would like to support The Jacket Off Your Back call Kevin on 0868988137 or Sue on 0863675593, or email jacketoffyourback@gmail.com

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