The building of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

Work on the famously incomplete church is inching towards a conclusion with five of its six central towers now finished

(Image credit: Pau Barenna/Getty Images)

published 4 October 2023

More than 140 years after the first cornerstone of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica was laid, the "famously incomplete" church is inching towards completion with five of its six central towers now finished.

But "would-be" pilgrims to the iconic site "should not expect to see Antoni Gaudí’s structurally audacious masterpiece fully realised" until at least 2026, said The New York Times.

The Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, a foundation that oversees the church's construction, said work had now been completed on two of the church's main towers. These towers join the two completed last year, collectively symbolising the four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – traditionally recognised as the authors of the canonical Gospels detailing Jesus's life.

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The foundation said it hopes that the tallest planned central tower, which will represent Jesus, will be finished for the centennial of Gaudí's death in 2026.

Antoni Gaudí, "the brilliant and idiosyncratic Catalan architect", devoted much of the latter half of his life to designing and constructing the church. The cornerstone was laid in 1882, and Gaudí "worked intensively on the project until he died after being struck by a tram at the age of 73", said The New York Times.

The cathedral's construction, like that of most cathedrals, has been extremely slow, and faced disruption in the late 1930s due to the Spanish Civil War, during which "most of the designs and models" of Gaudí's cathedral were destroyed, said CNN. The current designs being used to complete his masterpiece are "based on surviving and reconstructed materials, as well as reimagined adaptations of the original".

Designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1984, the Sagrada Familia was consecrated for religious worship by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Upon completion, it will claim the title of "the world's tallest church", surpassing Germany's Ulm Minster.

Sagrada Familia under construction in 1887 — The Sagrada Familia after five years of construction in 1887

Sagrada Familia 1926 — Passers-by walk past the façade of the cathedral in 1926

Sagrada Familia 1936 — How the Sagrada Familia appeared at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936

Sagrada Familia 1940 — The basilica as it stood in 1940, during the Second World War

Sagrada Familia 1988 — Pigeons surround a man outside the Sagrada Familia in 1988

Sagrada Familia 1993 — Further construction under way in 1993

Sagrada Familia 2003 — The basement workshop underneath the Sagrada where plaster of Paris scale models are created to assess and modify the design of the cathedral.

A view over Barcelona from the Sagrada Familia in 2023

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Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.