The Choir Loft

If you look upwards, you can see the choir loft, a space that houses the choir during church services. As you can see, it takes up a huge amount of space, covering the first floor of all the naves, as well as the Great Doorway. It can hold over 1000 singers. Gaudí conducted a thorough study so as to provide the church with perfect acoustics. To do so, he used the hyperbolic vaulting which, as it was above the choir, made the singing reverberate harmoniously throughout the entire church.

Today, such an enormous choir might seem surprising, but we must bear in mind that in the early 20th century, choirs were very popular in Spain, particularly in Catalonia. Also, Gaudí was a fervent defender of singing during mass. In his opinion, it should prevail over instrumental music, including organ music.

If you have paid for admission to the spires, please don’t forget that you need to check the time printed on your ticket. You will find the lifts at the top end of the church, near the entrance to the porticos. Go on up and enjoy the wonderful views of Barcelona! The spiral staircases that will bring you back down into the nave are also well worth seeing. When you have finished, go to the next audio track to continue listening to the commentary.



(c) (R) 2013, MUSMon com S.L.
Text (a) Diego Laforga Marcos (2013)

Pictures
Source: Own work
Author: Carlos Marcos (2013)