Sagrada Familia: construction will be finished by 2026, construction managers assure

“We will finish the work by 2026”: those responsible for the completion of the Sagrada Familia, the great temple in Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudí (Reus, 1852 - 1926), begun in 1882 and left unfinished, assure the Spanish daily El País. It is moving forward at a rapid pace, and this is also thanks to the economic inputs that come from the millions of visitors: there are 4.5 million visits to the Sagrada Familia each year, bringing as much as 50 million euros into the coffers of the work every twelve months, used to allow the work to continue unabated.

And to think that the construction has gone on for more than a century in a situation of irregularity, El País always points out: it was only in November 2016 that the Barcelona City Council and the Fundació Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, the entity in charge of completing the work, started negotiations to regularize the building’s position (Gaudí in fact was not very attentive to bureaucratic aspects) with related payment of permits, through a special urban plan that will be finalized later this year. Last Thursday those in charge, through the mouth of Esteve Camps, president of the Junta Constructora, gave their word: “as Gaudí’s heirs we will defend in the negotiations the conclusion of his project.”

Still outstanding, however, is the matter related to the huge access ramp envisioned by Gaudí, whose construction would require the expropriation of 150 funds, including stores and housing: an issue that, last year, had led to fears that work would come to a halt (and the City Council, at the time, declared that the completion of the Sagrada Familia was not among the priorities). In relation to this logjam, the administration has limited itself to stating that “for two years we have been working to reach an agreement that serves to be able to arrive at a project that follows Antoni Gaudí’s intentions.”

However, this is not enough to stop work on the church, which is growing year after year and is now, it is estimated, 70 percent complete and on the home stretch. The next major step will be the completion of the “Torre de Jesucristo,” the tallest of the complex’s eighteen towers, which will double its current height to 172.5 meters in 2022 (and become the tallest building in all of Barcelona).

Photo: the Sagrada Familia. Ph. Credit Nicolas Gemini

Sagrada Familia: construction will be finished by 2026, construction managers assure

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