The Cathedral That Took 150 Years to Build Just Opened Its Final Tower

After 144 years of construction — interrupted by civil war, financial crises, and a global pandemic — Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona has opened its final tower, the central spire of Jesus Christ, completing one of the most extraordinary building projects in human history.

The tower, rising 172.5 meters above the city, is now the tallest religious building in Europe. Its completion fulfills Gaudí's original vision for a structure that would serve as a "Bible in stone" — a building whose every surface tells the story of Christian faith.

"Gaudí understood that beauty is a form of evangelism," says Isabelle Fontaine, an art historian who has written extensively about the basilica. "He believed that if you could create something truly beautiful, people would stop and ask what it meant. And then you could tell them."

The completion of the Sagrada Família has prompted reflection on the nature of long-term devotion — the willingness to work on something you know you will not live to see finished. Gaudí himself died in 1926, struck by a tram, having devoted the last 43 years of his life to the project.