Today we visited what many believe to be the finest architecture that Spain has to offer. Many still would argue that its domain stretched far beyond the country it was built in. La Sagrada Familia began construction in 1882 and is still under development today, it is the crowning achievement of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí. Gaudí was the lead architect up until his death in 1926. Having died at 73, more than half of his life was dedicated to building this magnificent basilica. A very religious man by nature, it was his goal to capture the bible in stone through building this church.

The building shatters norms in its construction, which deviates heavily from any sort of contemporary architectural work. The arches it is constructed from are known as “ideal arches”. The mirror image in shape of a rope or chain suspended in the air by its two ends, these arches distribute stress perfectly across themselves, with no tensile forces present and no frictional forces necessary to uphold the structure. After Gaudí’s death, work on the basilica has continued faithfully thanks to the numerous, enormous models that he built during his career. Some of them were more than 8 feet tall!

The entire structure is dotted with mathematical and mechanical curiosities. One example is this “magic square”. Usually puzzle for the arithmetically inclined, one is tasked to fill each space in the square so that every row, column and diagonal adds to the same number. In this case, the square has been solved so that the “magic number” is 33, the age of Jesus at his death.