Why Don’t We Live in an Art Nouveau World?
5th November 2026
A hundred years after the death of its architect and 144 years after the start of construction, the Sagrada Família’s main spire was completed this February, making it the tallest church in the world.
In addition to being the tallest, it is also one of the most bizarre. It looks like no other building, anywhere. The Sagrada Família is an expression of Antoni Gaudí’s very personal view of architecture, which incorporates Gothic elements into Modernisme,1 the Catalan version of Art Nouveau. The whole thing vaguely resembles a termite mound. The two completed façades are covered with countless sculpted ornaments in multiple styles (the third and main façade’s construction is still pending, and it will require demolishing some apartment blocks). The interior is an airy forest of stone columns that rise to meet a vaulted ceiling like the branches of trees in a canopy, bathed in the multicolored light of the stained glass windows. Trencadís, a mosaic technique that uses irregular pieces of glass, is used abundantly. Since 2005, the church has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I’ve visited it when I was in the Navy. It belongs right alongside the Black Death and Auschwitz. I don’t accept that it is an example of Art Nouveau, which I happen to love, whether in the Paris Metro or Rivendell.