Trip #2 (Part II) - BARCELONA

Upon arriving in Barcelona we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed to the Museu Nacional d'Arte de Catalunya (The National Museum of Art of Cataluña). It is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. It is a vast palace on the side of Montjuic (just below the Olympic Village).

The palace boasts an amazing collection of Romanesque and Gothic art. The Romanesque (11th through 13th centuries) art is particularly important. The collection is made up of murals from decaying churches throughout Cataluña. There were attempts to reconstruct the apse and nave of the churches as best they could. I love these spaces. It is important to see these, and other places of worship, as "books" to be read by the people. Remember, the vast population of the Medieval period were illiterate. They were taught visually. So, seeing these images reminded them of the essential themes of the Bible and who they were to worship and why. A good example is the Church Santa María de Taüll:

(detail from the apse)

These images were not always pleasant, but did get their point across. The image above shows the Archangel Michael holding balances with the Devil gliding in from the other side. It represents the influence of good and evil.

One of the most beautiful representations of Christ is in the recovered chapel Sant Clement de Taüll:

In the apse you find Christ in Glory (engulfed in a mandoria) holding a book with the words, "I am the light of the world."

Above him is the hand of God

 And then just above that the symbol of Christ referred to in Revelations 5:6 having seven eyes.

I was particularly intrigued by the image below. It is Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31 who sat outside the rich man's door whose wounds were licked by dogs. This image teaches something important about what the faithful of this church considered to be an essential quality in human behavior.

 Aside from recovered murals, the museum holds very rare wooden images and sculpted stone column capitals.

The one on the left represents Abraham taking Isaac to sacrifice him when an angel appears and presents him with a ram. The one on the right represents Mary and Joseph's flight into Egypt with the Christ child.

The statue above is one of what are known as black Virgins. They have a dark patina.

This is an interesting (and rare) representation of Saint John the Evangelist in wood riding on the back of an eagle (an anthropormorphic symbol of the evangelist)

This Christ figure is a fully articulated wooden whose arms move to accommodate their placement on a separate cross.

After seeing all the "serious" stuff, we took them down to the beach and let them have some time hanging out. I must confess that I originally did not plan to take them to the beach since most in Spain haven't any clothing rules (partial nudity is very common). Fortunately, the Playa Litoral is pretty tame. I only saw one topless woman in the vicinity! We gave them free time to explore the downtown area. I think that they really liked the freedom.

There are some really "funky" buildings and sculptures near and around the beach area. Here are some examples:

After walking down the boardwalk, my family and I went to a beautiful gothic church, Santa María del Mar. It is a perfect specimen of what unscathed gothic churches were all about: open nave with a full view of the main altar upon entry. Remember that churches were set up with the altar on the east end of the church. The faithful would enter from the west and move toward the east, toward the light represented by Christ and the altar. The students also visited this place the next day.

PART III of our trip coming soon...!!!!