Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family

Interesting facts

Gaudí set the central Jesus Christ tower one metre lower than Montjuïc hill, believing no human work should rise above God's own.

When Gaudí died in 1926, only an estimated 15 to 25 percent of the basilica had actually been built.

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, anarchists set the crypt on fire and broke into Gaudí's workshop, partly destroying his original plans.

Gaudí planned eighteen spires: twelve for the Apostles, four for the Evangelists, one for the Virgin Mary and the tallest for Jesus Christ.

The basilica overtook Ulm Minster, at 161.53 metres, as the world's tallest church in October 2025, months before its central tower was finished.

Gaudí was not the first architect: work began on 19 March 1882 under Francisco de Paula del Villar, and Gaudí replaced him soon after.

The Nativity façade, built between 1893 and 1936, was the first of the church's façades to be completed.

Its interior columns change shape as they rise, starting square, turning octagonal, then sixteen-sided, and finally becoming circular.

Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church on 7 November 2010 before about 6,500 people and proclaimed it a minor basilica.

The Nativity façade and the crypt were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, as part of the Works of Antoni Gaudí.

Why it is worth it

The Sagrada Família is a private undertaking dressed as a national monument: no government money has ever paid for a stone of it. From the start it has run on ticket sales and donations alone, which is why construction has always moved in fits and starts — when the money dried up, so did the work, sometimes for years at a stretch. Gaudí understood this from day one, which is why he insisted on building the tallest, most visible elements first: a half-finished tower draws eyes and donors in a way a finished nave does not.

For 136 years the basilica was, technically, an illegal building. Barcelona never issued a construction permit for it — an oversight that went unnoticed through the whole twentieth century, until the city government finally caught up with the paperwork in 2019 and settled the matter with a €36 million fine, paid to cover decades of unpaid municipal fees. It is a strange footnote for what is now one of the most photographed buildings on Earth: for most of its existence, it was a rule-breaker as much as a landmark.

The last tower, dedicated to Jesus Christ, was finished in early 2026 — 144 years after the first stone was laid in 1882. At 172.5 metres it made the Sagrada Família the tallest church building in the world. Gaudí, who took over the project in 1883 and worked on it until his death in 1926, saw only a fraction of it rise in his lifetime and is buried in its crypt — the one person permanently inside a building he never got to see finished.

Getting there

Located in Sagrada Família. Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) is about 14 km away.

From the encyclopaedia

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, or simply Sagrada Família, is a Catholic church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, it is the tallest church in the world. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a basilica. In 2005, parts of the Sagrada Família were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under "Works of Antoni Gaudí".

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Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia