Tallest church in the world and under construction for 140 years: discover the Sagrada Familia, where Pope Leo XIV says mass this Wednesday

Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona inaugurates Tower of Jesus Christ
Pope Leo 1882, when the foundation stone was laid, although the works would only actually begin the following year. A work, in fact, that was never actually delivered: the site has been under construction for almost 143 years.
The current delivery forecast is for 2032. The complex must still undergo a first cycle of restoration before it is 100% complete.
Aerial view captured by drone of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, before the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Barcelona, Spain, on June 3, 2026.
REUTERS/Guillermo Martinez
In the beginning, his plans were much more modest. The initial project had been in charge of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano, who had planned a neo-Gothic church.
Villar would resign from his post the following year, after disagreements with Joan Martorell, the architect who advised the temple's creator. In 1884, Martorell would appoint a young protégé to the position, only 31 years old and with no major work in his career until then: Antoni Gaudí.
Gaudí completely modified the project and idealized the Sagrada Família as we know it today. The architect became one of the best-known in history, and the main name of Catalan modernism. He would sign some of Barcelona's biggest attractions, such as Casa Battló and Park Güell.
Gaudí would work on the basilica for the next four decades, knowing that he would not see his biggest project completed. Eccentric, celibate and fervently Catholic, he dedicated himself to the church until his death in 1926, aged 73, when he was run over by a tram and mistaken for a pauper.
Currently, the Catalan diocese is committed to the beatification of Gaudí, nicknamed "God's architect".
Work on the Sagrada Familia continued, but construction was compromised during the Spanish Civil War, in 1936, when models and original designs were destroyed by anarchist groups.
Portrait of Antoni Gaudí from 1878
Pablo Audouard Deglaire/Reproduction
172.5 meters
With several of Gaudí's successors alternating at the helm of the works over the years, the Nativity façade was completed and declared a UNESCO heritage site in 2005.
In 2010, Pope Benedict The 16th century finally consecrated the site and declared the Sagrada Familia a minor basilica.
But the main milestone was the completion of the Tower of Jesus, in February 2026, the largest in the complex. At 172.5 meters high, the temple - which was already the tallest church in the world - also became the tallest building in the city.
Pope Leo Ulm, Germany.
The final piece - a white cross 17 meters high and 13.5 meters wide - was lifted by a large yellow crane and placed on top of the tower of Jesus Christ.
Spain's main tourist attraction, the Sagrada Familia received 4.8 million paid visitors in 2024.
The top of the church is slightly below the 177 meters of the Montjuïc hill, as determined by Gaudí, who he did not want the construction to surpass what he considered a divine work.
Of his 18 towers, Gaudí only managed to see one of them completed in his lifetime, the so-called tower of Barnabas.

Source: G1