The Sagrada Familia will not be completed in 2026, coinciding with the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death as planned before the pandemic. But it will reach its maximum height next June, when the Tower of Jesus, 172.5 meters tall, is completed. In the last decade, the temple will have doubled its height and will transform the skyline of Barcelona, becoming the tallest building in the city, as Gaudí envisioned, careful not to surpass the Montjuïc mountain, which he considered God's work that no human construction should exceed.
An official invitation has already been sent from the Sagrada Familia to Pope León XIV to preside over the solemn mass in memory of Gaudí, on June 10, 2026, one hundred years after his death, run over by a tram while returning from mass. The Vatican is evaluating the request, and a response is expected by the end of this month.
The summer calendar of 2026 also includes the presentation of the teams of the Tour de France 2026, with the first stage of the race in Barcelona under the completed Tower of Jesus.
Currently, the Tower of Jesus rises to about 155 meters in the center of the temple. "The terminal has been completed, and everything is ready to install the cross," says the architect of the basilica, Jordi Faulí. The complex structure of the cross is being manufactured in Germany and arrives in pieces that are assembled directly on-site, at 150 meters high. Combining stone and glass, the arm of the cross that will crown the temple will include an image of the Agnus Dei, as Gaudí desired, surrounded by golden rays.
Completed in 2035... if the neighbors are expropriated
And to the question that the people of Barcelona have been hearing for decades, When will the Sagrada Familia be completed?, the president of the Construction Board, Esteve Camps, is cautious: "Possibly in 10 years. But it is not a definitive date, it is conditioned on many issues, such as maintaining tourism and the level of ticket revenue. After the lesson of Covid, we cannot predict if it will be 10 or 13 years. If everything remains in the same order and if by 2027 we are fully dedicated to the Glory facade, it could be in 2035."
The Glory facade has always been the last hurdle. The majestic entrance of the Sagrada Familia has sparked controversy as its construction involves expropriating the neighbors on Mallorca Street to demolish the buildings erected during the Franco era. When Gaudí designed the temple, the area was an empty lot, and he designed a grand staircase for the Glory facade, the last one yet to be built.
But Mayor José María Porcioles modified the urban plan to allow the construction of housing in the space intended for the expansion of the Sagrada Familia. "The staircase will be built. It is a bridge that crosses the street, and when it reaches the Mallorca sidewalk, the stairs begin. That is the project that Gaudí presented," defends Camps. The City Council would need to modify the Metropolitan General Plan (PGM) and expropriate around 3,000 homes in the buildings on Mallorca Street to demolish them and complete the Sagrada Familia. It is also necessary to anticipate the possible challenge of the modification of the PGM by neighborhood associations and a judicial process with a ruling that could extend the Sagrada Familia's timeline.
The competition for the design of the Glory facade, which Gaudí envisioned as the most spectacular, is already underway. The three selected artists are Miquel Barceló, Cristina Iglesias, and Javier Marín. In December, they will present their proposal to the Board, which must be ratified by the Theological and Artistic Commission. In any case, by 2026, the Sagrada Familia will already be "in its final stretch," in Camps' words, maintaining all its records. In 2024, it received 4.9 million visitors, with revenues of 130 million euros reinvested in construction.