We've been closely following the final stages of the completion of Antoni Gaudí's glorious Basilica of the Holy Family (La Sagrada Familia) in Barcelona, Spain. Just one week ago, Aleteia's Daniel Esparza heralded the removal of scaffolding hiding the cross atop the imposing Catholic architectural wonder:
The cross itself is immense: 17 meters (55 feet) high and 13.5 meters (44 feet) wide. Clad in glass and white enameled ceramic, it forms a luminous crown atop the tallest part of the basilica.
With its installation earlier this year, the Sagrada Família reached its final planned height of 172.5 meters (566 feet), making it the tallest church in the world.
And now La Sagrada Familia seems set to claim one more record. According to a piece by Alexander Walker at Archinect, architecture buffs and builders (on a slightly smaller scale) alike are buzzing with the rumor that the first LEGO kit to break the 12,000-piece limit will be a model of Gaudí's basilica. BrickFanatics, a blog for LEGO collectors, claims that the 12,060-piece set, said to retail for $600, will be released on July 1 as part of LEGO's Architecture line.
There was competition for this LEGO breakthrough, including Germany's Cologne Cathedral and Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, itself once the Byzantine Cathedral of Constantinople. (Notre-Dame de Paris, released last year and once thought to be among the contenders for the super set, contains a mere 4,383 pieces.) Unlike other LEGO sets, the Architecture line -- geared to adults -- has often featured religious landmarks.
Transforming curves to bricks
You might be wondering, as we are, how readily Gaudí's organic vision for La Sagrada Familia, which appears to grow out of the earth toward the heavens with the curves and twists of a great forest, will translate into the geometry of LEGO bricks. Basic development is the same answer for all LEGO creations. Using CAD (computer-assisted design, long a tool of architects), LEGO engineers transform 2-dimensional images such as drawings and photographs into 3-D models. That's just the beginning, as a backgrounder at Bricklume explains. Designers work in teams, most often using the library of existing brick styles, to assemble a prototype kit. The process often comes down to iteration -- trying and failing and trying again to produce pieces that utilize the LEGO interlocking brick system in a way that most closely resembles the original (and doesn't overly try the patience of the builder).
Developers try not to require newly designed pieces, but with La Sagrada Familia we suspect that was a challenge!
The challenges of completion
There will be challenges in store for those who attempt to assemble the 12,060 pieces of the LEGO La Sagrada Familia, too. Cost, space, and time to carry out the painstaking work are all formidable. But collectors can take heart from the fact that their construction process won't come anywhere close to taking as long as Gaudí's. The master did not live to see his vision fully take shape. Gaudí took over construction of the cathedral in 1883, adding his own inspired Gothic and Art Nouveau decoration. When he died in 1926, La Sagrada Familia was only one-quarter complete.
Just last month, the final piece of the last steeple was set into place. But though an inauguration ceremony is scheduled on July 10 this year -- commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gaudí's death -- the project won't technically be finished until the end of this decade, when the approach to the south front is finalized.
So, if you time it right, you might just be able to complete your LEGO Sagrada Familia before the real one is done!
