Lucadea.com - Tag: Apostles

The spires of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
Looking upward between the streets of Barcelona, the basilica’s spires are among the first details that catch my attention, with their unusual shapes making Gaudí’s work immediately recognizable. They are the kind of subject I enjoy photographing because even a familiar landmark can look completely different when seen from another position.
When I took this photograph, I was not looking for the usual view of the entire Sagrada Familia. I wanted to look upward and isolate the towers, allowing their shapes and vertical lines to become the main subject of the image. When I photograph famous monuments, I often prefer this approach: instead of simply recording the whole building, I try to stop when a particular detail catches my eye.
The Sagrada Familia stands in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and is naturally one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. If you are visiting Barcelona and wondering what to see, it is almost impossible to overlook Antoni Gaudí’s basilica. During my visit, however, I was also interested in the smaller details that can easily disappear when the building is viewed only as a whole.
The spires are an essential part of the basilica’s distinctive appearance. From below, their height becomes especially noticeable, while a closer look reveals different shapes, openings and decorative elements. From a distance they can almost appear to form one large structure, but looking carefully shows how many individual parts come together.
One small detail that helps explain the design is the symbolism of the towers. The Sagrada Familia has eighteen towers in the overall project: twelve dedicated to the Apostles and six central towers dedicated to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the four Evangelists. The spires are therefore not simply architectural decoration but part of the broader symbolic idea behind the basilica.
That is also what interested me when I made this photograph. I wanted to capture a fragment of the Sagrada Familia rather than explain the entire building in a single image. With my camera, I concentrated on the lines rising above me and deliberately left much of the basilica outside the frame. In a city as full of recognizable subjects as Barcelona, narrowing the view can sometimes lead to a more personal photograph.
I have already shared several other photographs of the Sagrada Familia on the site. There is the Nativity façade, as well as the more recent Passion façade. I have also photographed details of the Sagrada Familia and another façade of the basilica. Together, these photographs reflect the same curiosity I had while walking around the building and noticing how many different subjects it offers.
All the photographs I took there can also be found in my Sagrada Familia photo gallery. I like having the images together because different viewpoints can change the appearance of the same monument considerably, even when the photographs are taken during the same visit.
If you are visiting Barcelona and want to photograph the Sagrada Familia, I would not concentrate only on the complete view. Looking upward and spending a little time with the spires can reveal shapes and details that are easy to miss from the street, especially when the scale of the whole building is competing for your attention.

Looking at this photograph again, what I like most is that it does not try to show everything. It keeps only one part of the Sagrada Familia in the frame, preserving the detail that caught my eye at that particular moment. Which detail of the Sagrada Familia would you photograph first? Add a comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photo taken with Canon EOS RP and Tamron 16-300 lens.

To see all the photos I took of the church, click here:

Where is the cathedral located?

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Statues on St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The statues on St Peter’s Basilica in Rome are the detail that gives this photograph its focus. In this image from the Vatican, I wanted to look beyond the familiar outline of the building and concentrate on the figures standing along the top of the facade, with Michelangelo’s dome and one of the facade clocks rising behind them.
I took this photograph in 2023, focusing on the upper section of St. Peter’s Basilica rather than trying to capture the whole of St Peter’s Square. The composition naturally moves from the dome on the left towards the long line of statues on the right, while the blue sky creates a simple background around the architecture. For me, this made the sculptural details much easier to notice.
There are thirteen statues on the facade of St Peter’s Basilica: Christ the Redeemer stands in the centre, with St. John the Baptist and eleven Apostles alongside him. St Peter himself is not included in this row because he is represented inside the basilica. The statues of the Apostles and St. John the Baptist are about 5.65 metres high, while the central Christ the Redeemer is approximately 6 metres tall.
Knowing their actual size changes the way I see this photograph. From St Peter’s Square, the statues can look like relatively small decorations above the facade. In reality, they are monumental sculptures designed to remain visible from a considerable distance. Their scale also helps explain why they give such a strong finish to the top of the building.
The facade itself was designed by Carlo Maderno and built between 1607 and 1614 for Pope Paul V. It is made of travertine and measures about 116 metres wide and 45.50 metres high without the statues. Corinthian columns and pilasters divide the facade into a carefully ordered architectural composition, while the upper level includes balconies, balustrades, niches and two clocks.
Several of these details are visible in my photograph. The huge dome occupies the left side of the frame, the clock appears above the facade, and the statues continue almost horizontally across the image. I particularly like the way the architecture seems to become a stage for the figures, with each sculpture standing out against the open sky.
The facade has more to discover than its impressive first appearance suggests. Above the entrances is a high-relief representing the Delivery of the Keys, while the upper section is completed by the pediment and the long balustrade carrying the statues. The facade was later modified by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who also changed the staircase in front of the basilica after 1667.
One detail I find especially interesting is the absence of St Peter from the line of thirteen statues. It seems like an obvious choice to expect him among the Apostles, but the official description of the basilica confirms that the facade instead presents Christ, St. John the Baptist and eleven Apostles. St Peter’s presence is expressed elsewhere inside the basilica.
I wanted this photograph to remain a personal observation rather than a complete explanation of St Peter’s Basilica. When photographing a monument as recognizable as this one, it is easy to make another general picture that looks familiar before you even press the shutter. Looking for a smaller detail gives me a better chance of preserving what actually caught my attention in that moment.
If you are visiting the Vatican, the facade of St Peter’s Basilica is worth looking at before entering the church. The wider view from the square is impressive, but spending a little more time looking upwards reveals the statues, clocks, columns and sculptural details that can disappear when the whole building is seen at once.
This photograph also connects with the other Rome and Vatican images I have shared on Lucadea.com. I enjoy building a visual record of familiar places through individual details rather than trying to reproduce a standard travel itinerary. A famous monument can look very different when the camera concentrates on one part of it.
That is what I wanted to preserve here. The subject is undoubtedly St Peter’s Basilica, but the photograph is really about the figures standing above its facade. Their size, position and relationship with the architecture give the image a character that I would have missed if I had only photographed the entire square.
Looking back at the image, I still find the contrast between the monumental building and the human figures particularly effective. They form a continuous line above the facade, while the dome rises behind them and the open sky leaves the composition unusually clean.

Which detail of St Peter’s Basilica would you photograph first when visiting the Vatican? Add a comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photo taken with Canon EOS RP and Canon RF 24-50 lens.

To see all the photos I took in Rome, click here:

Here is where the basilica is located: