Oldest known photograph of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, ca. 1892.

Oldest known photograph of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ca. 1892.
Measurements: 31 x 24 x 2 cm.

The photograph in bidding has an enormous historical and documentary importance because it corresponds to a very early stage of the construction of the temple, when Antoni Gaudí was still defining and progressively transforming the original project. In those years the basilica was still in its early stages of construction and retained many neo-Gothic elements inherited from the initial project of Francesc de Paula Villar, the architect whom Gaudí succeeded in 1883.

These images visually document the moment when Gaudí began to stamp his own architectural language, becoming exceptional testimonies of the evolution of the building before it acquired its current appearance. Photographs from this period show elements that have disappeared today, scaffolding systems, handcrafted construction processes and provisional architectural solutions that help to understand how one of the most complex monuments of modern architecture was erected.

Its value is further enhanced by the fact that many of the original models, drawings and documents from Gaudí's workshop were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. As a result, the old photographs of the Sagrada Familia have become fundamental sources for studying and reconstructing the artist's architectural thinking.

The photograph is part of an album consisting of a total of 69 images. It shows the installation of scaffolding over the neo-Gothic central apse originally designed by Francesc de Paula Villar, a structure that Antoni Gaudí decided to preserve and integrate into his later development of the Sagrada Familia.

The album also includes other views of great documentary interest on Barcelona at the end of the 19th century, including images of the Taller Masriera, the Arc de Triomf, the Passeig de Sant Joan, as well as the parishes of Sant Albert Magne and Sant Ramon de Penyafort, the church of Sant Francesc de Sales and the monasteries of Sant Genís dels Agudells, in Horta, and Sant Jeroni de la Murtra, in the Canyet district of Badalona. Ten photographs of the Port of Barcelona are also preserved, showing replicas of Columbus' caravels, La Pinta and La Niña, built for the Columbus celebrations in 1892.