forest of columns

Gaudí set out to reinterpret the Gothic style with his personal touch, inspired by nature. Furthermore, the walls had to house large windows and could not support the weight of the building. To get rid of the Gothic buttresses, he devised these tree columns, an avant-garde system that had never been used until now, which allows the weight of the roofs to be unloaded through the branches of the columns until reaching the ground, a practical as well as aesthetic solution. , since it turns the interior of the temple naves into an organic space that resembles a forest. In 1987 the foundation of the warehouses began; In 1997 the side vaults were completed and the central one was finished in 2010.

In the temple there are 56 columns. In the apse 20: 10 make up the ambulatory that surrounds the altar, 10 more in the second row, separate the chapels. In the transept there are 16: those of the 12 apostles and those of the 4 evangelists. In each transept there are 2; and there are 16 more on the ship. They are made of various materials. Thus, the longest and thickest are made of red porphyry (very hard volcanic rock), the smallest and darkest are made of basalt and those that support the exterior columns are made of granite.