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Who has never heard of the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia? The massive life work of Antoni Gaudí, the greatest exponent of Catalan modernism, has a very long, centuries-old and characteristic history: it is, in fact, one of the longest “works in progress” in the history of art, slowed down by various events which, from time to time, have further and further distanced the hope of seeing its end.
To date, the church remains eternally “unfinished”… Or almost: after 141 years, in fact, we are starting to hypothesize a completion date for the works. The Templo Expiatorio in Barcelona, therefore, could finally say goodbye to the gigantic cranes that have always characterized its public image, becoming the tallest religious building in the world.
The long and troubled history of the Sagrada Familia
To tell the story of the symbolic church of Barcelona we need to go back to 19 March 1882: this is the day during which the foundation stone of the Sagrada Familia was laid, unknowingly starting very long construction works.
The ceremony had numerous and important guests: first of all the bishop of Barcelona José María Urquinaona and the original architect designated to take care of the construction of the church, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano. But among the guests there was also the one who, still unaware at the time, would change the fate of the Templo: one of the most important architects of all time, the young Antoni Gaudí, Villar’s assistant at the time.
Less than a year later, the unaware architect who attended the ceremony found the fate of the church in his hands: Villar gave up the construction, leaving Gaudí the possibility of completely changing the project. Thus it was that a simple neo-Gothic church with three naves was transformed into a work reflecting the characteristics of modernism; the Sagrada Familia became the life work of Gaudí, who designed it for over 40 years and by which he was totally absorbed for the last 15 years of his life.
Such an imposing and ever-changing work made the Spanish architect understand that he would never be able to see it complete before he died. However, Gaudí’s end came much earlier than one might have expected: hit by a tram and mistaken for a penniless man, he died in 1926 after three days of agony in total anonymity.
Buried the architect in the crypt of the imposing work that characterized four decades of his life, it was proposed to continue the construction following his plans. But about ten years later, in 1936, another sudden and disastrous event changed the cards on the table again: an anticlerical group set fire to the crypt where Gaudí’s notes and models were located, destroying them forever.
Since then, although the restoration of some of the models kept in the architect’s laboratory was very important, so as to allow the works to restart, the construction continued more slowly, with the sad certainty that the church would never be destined to be exactly as Gaudí had imagined it. Furthermore, work on the building continues on the basis of donations: for this reason and also due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the completion date has been moved further and further forward, in total uncertainty.
End of work is approaching?
The slow and troubled history of the costruction of the Sagrada Familia would seem to be destined to have an end, and even in a rather short time. Post-pandemic, in fact, the works seem to have resumed in full force: this is demonstrated by the placement of an imposing star on the tower dedicated to the Virgin at the end of 2021 and, in more recent times, the completion of the towers dedicated to the Evangelists.
At this point, only the most important and tallest tower would be missing: the one dedicated to Jesus Christ. According to the plans for the church, an imposing four-armed cross will stand above it: in this way it will be raised to a height of 172.5m, making the Sagrada Familia the tallest place of worship in the world.
The new four towers of the Evangelists will be officially inaugurated on November 12th; although the tallest tower still needs a few years, the world is starting to think that the long history of the building’s construction may end in less than three years, in 2026. After 144 years, then, will the Sagrada Familia finally be complete? All everyone has to do is wait and find out.
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