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The "Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia" (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) was the idea of a bookseller, Josep María Bocabella, literate and devoted man who in 1866 founded the Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of St Joseph), whose objective was to achieve, through the protection of St Joseph, the triumph of the Catholic Church in a time in which the phenomenon of dechristianization was impulsed by the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying social changes

In 1872, Bocabella went to Rome to make an offering to the Holy Father, and while returning from this trip he passed through Loreto, where he observed its beautiful church It was there that he had the idea of making an expiatory temple in Barcelona, dedicated to the Holy Family, as a replica of the church he saw in that Italian municipality

Beginning in 1876 Bocabella searched for a centrally located plot to build his temple, and he almost obtained it, since the Duchess of Almenara Alta was going to donate one which she owned, but she died before she made the donation So then the Association had to find a plot further from the centre because its budget was scant The plot which was acquired for 172000,- pesetas occupied 12,800 square meters in the block delimited by Marina, Provenza, Mallorca and Cerdeña streets

In 1877 the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar offered to draw the plans for free Del Villar's project was totally neogothic: a church with three naves, with the crypt oriented according to the orthogonal axes of the block

The first stone was placed on March 19, 1882, on the festival of St Joseph Gaudí officially took over construction on March 18, 1883 (although he had intervened one year before) because of some disagreements between Del Villar and the council, represented by Juan Martorell Montells

Del Villar wanted to use ashlar columns, which was much more expensive than completing the interior with rubblework and then cover them with ashlar, and he argued with Martorell because the latter reproached him for spending much unnecessary money on the project Then the architecture professor sent a letter to Bocabella telling him that if his instructions were not followed then he would resign his post

The council decided to pass management of the construction to Martorell, who, considering what had taken place, proposed the young Gaudí as successor to Del Villar's former post Gaudí had collaborated with Martorell on some projects The council approved and the young architect (only 31 years old!) took over management of the construction right away In those moments the columns were being made and only a couple of them had reached the height of the capitals He modified Del Villar's project making more naturalist capitals, and he opened a trench around the crypt to allow light and direct ventilation

Gaudí officially signed his first plans as construction manager in December, 1884; they were the plans of the elevation and altar section of the Capilla de San José (Chapel of St Joseph) Its construction was swift and on March 19, 1885, it was inaugurated, offering the first mass on the following day

Once the crypt was finished Gaudí planned the apse, in which he was forced to base his plan on the gothic style which Villar had used in the first project Gaudí always said that gothic architecture did not provide a definitive solution to the problem of the thrusts on the arches and vaults; it only made it appear that the walls held the weight, because in reality it fell upon the flying buttresses, which were like the crutches of a cripple In addition, these flying buttresses were outside the building, that is, at the mercy of the elements, which quickened their deterioration The Sagrada Familia would not have been such a great monument of new architecture if flying buttresses had been used Gaudí concentrates the weight on the supporting elements-the columns, that is-and he uses one material or another depending on the weight they have to support

Gaudí imagined a church in the form of a Latin cross over the initial crypt; above the crypt, the major altar, surrounded by seven chapels in the apse dedicated to the seven pains and the seven sins of St Joseph, and in each of them there would be a representation of the Holy Family Across from the altar there would be two great doors at the ends, of the Nativity and the Passion This transept is composed of three naves It follows perpendicularly the central body of the temple, composed of five naves and closed by the colossal monument that will be the Façade of the Glory or the main entrance to the temple, by Mallorca street

The entire creation is surrounded by cloisters that are used for processions, and isolate the temple from the noise of the city Next to the presbytery is the sacristy, and centered between them, exactly in the axis of the major altar, the Chapel of the Assumption Inside the temple would include ample galleries for singers with capacity for several thousand voices

Above each façade there will be four towers, 12 in total, which will be dedicated to the Apostles The tower in the center, the tallest of all at 170 m, will be dedicated to Jesus Christ Around these will be the towers of the four Evangelists, and the tower over the apse will be dedicated to the Virgin

The towers have a parabolic profile and include helicoidal stairways which allow the middle part to be hollow, for the placement of tubular bells placed as carillon, whose sound should combine with the voices of the choirs There will be three types: the ordinary, tuned to the notes of mi, sol, do; the tubular, which will sound as percussion, and others, also tubular, that will sound through injected air Gaudi spent more than four years studying the sound of these bells so that they would sound as well as possible

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