The Nativity façade, located in the east, on Carrer de la Marina, is on the transept of the Temple. It explains the birth of Jesus, meaning the incarnation of the Son of God, and expresses the “joy and hope of life”. This is why Gaudí wanted the whole façade to be an exultation of divine creation, of all living beings in nature. Construction began while Gaudí was alive and, although he only lived to see the bell tower of Saint Barnabas completed in 1925 (the other three, dedicated to the apostles Simon, Jude Thaddeus and Matthias, were completed in 1930), he left strict instructions on how to proceed. Although the three façades of the Temple cannot be taken separately, because the contents are connected and we can find elements that allude to the birth, death, resurrection and glory of Jesus on all three, this façade is, as we’ve said, a celebration of the joy of life and the splendour of nature. This is why it is full of representations of animals (scallops, hens, various birds, ducks, eagles, etc.) and plants (roses, almond trees, cherry trees, lilies, passion flowers, etc.) celebrating and praising the birth of Jesus. To make the figures on this façade as life-like as possible, the sculp - tures were moulded from real human and animal models. Once the plaster model had been taken, Gaudí put it on the façade to see how it looked and if he was happy with the results, the final version in stone was made.
Sagrada Familia 1897
Sagrada Familia 1925
