Friday, 19 August 2022
Meet the JournalistsPremiumAucklandWellingtonCanterbury/South Island
CrimePoliticsHealthEducationEnvironment and ClimateNZ Herald FocusData journalismKāhu, Māori ContentPropertyWeather
Small BusinessOpinionPersonal FinanceEconomyBusiness TravelCapital Markets
Politics
Premium SportRugbyCricketRacingNetballBoxingLeagueFootballSuper RugbyAthleticsBasketballMotorsportTennisCyclingGolfAmerican SportsHockeyUFC
NZH Local FocusThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay of Plenty TimesHawke's Bay TodayRotorua Daily PostWhanganui ChronicleStratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu Courier
Covid-19
Te Rito
Te Rito
OneRoof PropertyCommercial Property
Open JusticeVideoPodcastsTechnologyWorldOpinion
SpyTVMoviesBooksMusicCultureSideswipeCompetitions
Fashion & BeautyFood & DrinkRoyalsRelationshipsWellbeingPets & AnimalsVivaCanvasEat WellCompetitionsRestaurants & Menus
New Zealand TravelAustralia TravelInternational Travel
Our Green FutureRuralOneRoof Property
Career AdviceCorporate News
Driven MotoringPhotos
SudokuCodecrackerCrosswordsWordsearchDaily quizzes
Classifieds
KaitaiaWhangareiDargavilleAucklandThamesTaurangaHamiltonWhakataneRotoruaTokoroaTe KuitiTaumarunuiTaupoGisborneNew PlymouthNapierHastingsDannevirkeWhanganuiPalmerston NorthLevinParaparaumuMastertonWellingtonMotuekaNelsonBlenheimWestportReeftonKaikouraGreymouthHokitikaChristchurchAshburtonTimaruWanakaOamaruQueenstownDunedinGoreInvercargill
NZ HeraldThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay Of Plenty TimesRotorua Daily PostHawke's Bay TodayWhanganui ChronicleThe Stratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu CourierVivaEat WellOneRoofDriven MotoringThe CountryPhoto SalesNZ Herald InsightsWatchMeGrabOneiHeart RadioRestaurant Hub

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
Travel

Barcelona: Rail tunnel near Gaudi's masterpiece delayed

29 Jun, 2010 11:00 PM3 minutes to read
Barcelona's Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's unfinished modernist masterpiece and Spain's top tourist site. Photo / Supplied

Barcelona's Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's unfinished modernist masterpiece and Spain's top tourist site. Photo / Supplied

Independent
By Anita Brooks

For years, architects, engineers and Barcelona residents have been sounding the alarm: the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished modernist masterpiece and Spain's top tourist site, could be endangered by a government plan to build a high-speed rail tunnel only 13ft (four metres) away.

Residents hung protest banners from windows. The architect in charge of turning Gaudi's blueprints into undulating, ceramic-coated reality called the tunnel "an attack on culture of the highest order".

Activists filmed a simulation of the 20,000-tonne building's collapse, its spindly, twisting towers and exuberant sculptures turned to dust. The digging started in March, nevertheless.

Now the worriers have won a small victory. The Spanish parliament has voted to suspend construction "immediately" as a cautionary measure while independent experts devise an alternate train route that would link Barcelona with the French border without jeopardising the work of "God's architect", which is soon to be consecrated by the Pope.

"The government should reconsider what it is doing," said Joan Rigol, chairman of the Sagrada Familia Foundation, which aims to finish the church Salvador Dali once called a "tactile erogenous zone" by 2025.

"The whole world thinks that there is a danger to the monument."

The vote is non-binding, but it exerts extra political pressure on the already beleaguered Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Following the vote, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works vowed that construction of the rail tunnel will continue with rigorous security measures, which include an underground protective barrier only 7ft (2.1 metres) from the Sagrada Familia's foundations.

The minister, Jose Blanco, told parliament that starting from scratch with an alternate route would be too expensive and would delay Spain's high-speed link with the rest of Europe for two years.

"What good is democracy if the government ignores the will of the people?" said Pere Vallejo, head of the citizens' platform against the tunnel, after the vote.

Mr Vallejo's group is not only concerned with the future of Gaudi's work of art. He's also worried about the fate of the 18,000 flats, like his own, that are also in the train tunnel's path.

Faced with the government's intransigence, the 80,000 members of the international Gaudi Beatification Society might pray to the architect for miracles. After all, the monk-like Gaudi, who died not as a martyr but as a victim of a traffic accident in 1926 at the age of 74, is considered a strong candidate for sainthood, his sensual rendition of the gospel seen as a tool to convert non-believers.

But the Sagrada Familia Foundation isn't waiting for divine intervention. It is about to file its sixth official complaint in the Spanish High Court in the hope a judge will order construction to halt permanently.

Sagrada Familia architects and engineers fear that tunnel construction could shift the "slippery, sandy" ground beneath the church, which could cause part of the building to sink and lead to cracks, Mr Rigol said.

The vibrations of a bullet train could also damage the prized monument, a Unesco cultural heritage site that attracts three million visitors each year, especially Japanese tourists, the major donors to the church construction.

"Gaudi built without buttresses," he said.

"The roof is made of many small stones, a technique know as trencadis, and any light movement could cause a great deal of damage."

A recent report by the International Council on Monuments and Sites praised the project for following EU technical and security standards, but called for an independent structural study of the building's foundations and urgent meeting between the Spanish government and Unesco heritage experts.

- INDEPENDENT

Related articles

World

Barcelona: Prankster draws a line with tourists

18 Jun 04:00 PM
Travel

Paris: Dead famous

04 Jul 08:00 PM
Travel

Canary Islands: Construction threatens Lanzarote's biosphere status

07 Jul 03:40 AM
Travel

The reign of Spain

13 Jul 12:00 AM

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Travel

Travel

Mount Kilimanjaro installs internet, social media-loving travellers rejoice

19 Aug 12:09 AM
Travel

Sharp focus: New York's thinnest building on Billionaire's row

18 Aug 08:32 PM
Travel

'See you in heaven': Family's terror as man tries to open door mid-flight

18 Aug 07:35 PM
Travel

Fast fashion: Giorgio Armani flees Sicilian wildfires

18 Aug 06:37 PM
Travel

Family disgusted by four-hour flight in vomit-covered seats

18 Aug 10:00 AM

Most Popular

Watch live: Not over yet - Civil Defence warns of more heavy rainfall in Tasman area
New ZealandUpdated

Watch live: Not over yet - Civil Defence warns of more heavy rainfall in Tasman area

19 Aug 01:45 AM
Premium
Cecilia Robinson rejoins My Food Bag board amid 'deeply disappointing' share price
BusinessUpdated

Cecilia Robinson rejoins My Food Bag board amid 'deeply disappointing' share price

19 Aug 12:04 AM
Mid-air horror: Panic on Air NZ flight from LA as masks drop, emergency declared
New Zealand

Mid-air horror: Panic on Air NZ flight from LA as masks drop, emergency declared

18 Aug 10:55 PM

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
About NZMEHelp & SupportContact UsSubscribe to NZ HeraldHouse Rules
Manage Your Print SubscriptionNZ Herald E-EditionAdvertise with NZMEBook Your AdPrivacy Policy
Terms of UseCompetition Terms & ConditionsSubscriptions Terms & Conditions
© Copyright 2022 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP