Basílica de la Sagrada Família, Barcelona

The Sagrada Família is a Catholic basilica still under construction, designed by Antoni Gaudí. Its sculpted façades and soaring forms make the building immediately recognisable, while its architectural language combines neo-Gothic design with Catalan modernisme. Construction began on the nineteenth of March 1882 under architect Francesc de Paula del Villar; Gaudí took charge in 1883 and reshaped the project.

He devoted the rest of his career to it, and his burial place is in the crypt beneath the church. The building became a basilica after Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it on the seventh of November 2010. Parts of the Nativity façade and the crypt received UNESCO World Heritage recognition in 2005.

The project has relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, when fire damaged Gaudí’s workshop and many of his models. The central tower dedicated to Jesus Christ reached structural completion on the twentieth of February 2026 and was formally inaugurated and blessed by Pope Leo XIV on the tenth of June. In 2019, before the pandemic, 4.7 million people visited, making this the most visited monument in Spain. As you take in the stonework, you are looking at a church whose construction spans generations, yet still bears Gaudí’s unmistakable vision.