Construction projects are notorious for running behind schedule. As with your bathroom remodel, so with the Sagrada Família. Antoni Gaudí’s fanciful basilica in Barcelona, Spain, has been in the works since 1882.
One hundred forty-four years after construction began, 100 years after the architect’s death, and 90 years after the loss of the original blueprints, the church remains unfinished.
But we’re getting closer! With the installation of a cross on top of the central Tower of Jesus Christ, the basilica has now reached its final height of 172.5 meters (566 ft.).
That makes the Sagrada Família the tallest church in the world, according to Reuters.
Pope Leo XIV will bless and inaugurate the tower on Wednesday, marking what The Art Newspaper calls the “symbolic completion” of the church.
OK, but when will the actual completion be completely completed?
That’s expected to take another decade or so, the project’s chief architect estimated last September.
The main elements still under construction are the Glory Facade on the south side of the building and an enormous stairway and park that are controversial because realizing those pieces of the plan would require demolishing at least two residential city blocks.
Actually, to describe the stairway as “under construction” isn’t quite right—as of this writing, that part hasn’t even been officially approved by the government yet.
But hey, it’s not as though the Sagrada Família hasn’t encountered setbacks before, from funding shortfalls to wars.
It was during the Spanish Civil War, as a matter of fact, that Catalan revolutionaries set fire to Gaudí’s old workshop, leaving only fragments of the architect’s original plans.
For that reason, only the parts of the church completed during Gaudí’s lifetime—the crypt and the Nativity Facade—are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Still, work has continued across the decades, albeit it a poky rate. The nave didn’t get a roof, for instance, until 2010.
If it takes another decade to do the finishing touches, remember that’s like the blink of an eye to God and contractors.
