See the pieces of the puzzle

I spent the afternoon wandering around the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Whenever I walk through epic temples like this I always see the dormant organs and wish they would come alive. There are 1,492 pipes on the main organ there, though this can be linked with more remote organs to fill the massive space with up to 8000 pipes. Imagine how incredible that would sound!

The temple's designer, Antoni Gaudi, is said to have had four passions in his life: architecture, nature, religion and his love for Catalonia.

You can see the obvious results of his nature study in his work. He said "The helicoid represents movement, the paraboloid is the father of geometry, the hyperboloid is the light and the tetrahedron is the synthesis of space. These surfaces possess their own wealth of nuances, making ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary."

When you enter the main space and look up, this is what you see.

The columns begin at the base with four sides, then twist to evolve into an octagon, then a hexadecagon, then eventually a circle. The forrest of these columns support the hyperboloid vaults - a structure that means there is empty space where the gothic architecture before this had required keystones. This was one of Gaudi's fascinating contributions to the world. These holes in the ceiling let the starry light through...

In the museum below there are all sorts of pieces from the Sagrada Familia story, and you can see some of the models and stonework that is being carried out. Seeing the individual pieces of a puzzle always fascinates me. In an enormous temple it makes sense that it can be broken down, stacked and sorted - but what if we did this with everyday objects? It is disconcerting!

What if we keep going further? In a way that only the great internet could do, here are the giants of physics (and Morgan Freeman) explaining quantum mechanics using plain english and autotune.

Now before you get stuck in your mind trying to rationalise all of this intense material, look up from your screen and into the world around you!

Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 after being hit by a tram.

Tomorrow I am going to the beach.

Enjoy your day!

This note was originally written on a weekend trip to Spain in September 2011.