Neither the Alhambra nor the Mosque of Córdoba. The Sagrada Familia is today the most visited Spanish monument. With almost five million visitors a year, it is difficult to get a ticket to access the interior of the temple designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). The project, which has been under construction for more than a century, now has a virtual preamble in the Barcelona Cathedral. It is an experience that, although not real, feels real. It is fast – although neither hasty nor banal – and very surprising. Gaudí, the Workshop of the Divine It constitutes both an accurate and respectful summary of the work, ideology and life of the architect as well as a good introduction to the visit to Gaudí’s Barcelona.
Since La Pedrera, La Casa Vicens, El Palau Güell and La Casa Batlló opened their doors to visitors for a fee, Barcelona has become, beyond the city of wonders, the city of Gaudí. That reality now has its introduction in a building that, without being the work of that architect, is part of his biography.
In the Gothic quarter of Barcelona, not far from the Palace that Gaudí built for his patron Eusebio Güell, the Cathedral was the last building in which the architect from Reus – who had settled in the Sagrada Familia to dedicate all his time to the construction of the temple – was before being run over by a tram. That Sunday, he attended mass at the Cathedral. He used to do it because he confessed in the neighboring oratory of Sant Felip Neri, perhaps the most beautiful square in Barcelona.
Very close by, entering through the door of Santa Eulalia, on Calle del Bisbe, today it is possible to retrace that journey and find yourself, one floor above, in the Sala de la Mercé, with the closest thing to summarizing, or discovering, Gaudí in 20 minutes.
At that time and equipped with virtual reality glasses, helmets make the experience possible. Thus, organized in groups of up to 10 visitors, one can enter, virtually and in almost any language, into that workshop that Gaudí moved to the Sagrada Familia, or inside the temple itself. The film is a surprising exercise that combines rigor and new technologies, a surprising experience that is architectural because it is perceived three-dimensional and alive and that, however, is not real.
Gaudí, the Workshop of the Divine has been carried out by the French company Gedeon Experiences – which signed a work with the same characteristics titled Versailles rediscovered—. Filmed with VR technology, the experience has been awarded at the PiXii festival in La Rochelle, Stereopsia in Brussels and Beyond the Frame in Tokyo. Promoted by the group Landscapes, in charge of the Mira Digital Arts Festival, it recreates Gaudí’s last days. He also clarifies that his works do not imitate nature but rather follow its logic and order.
Surely the least real thing about the experience is getting close to a dying Gaudí. The most, the infinite sensation of looking up inside the Sagrada Familia. In any case, it is difficult to learn more about Gaudí in 20 minutes: even virtual, the experience feels artisanal.