SAGRADA FAMÍLIA
Nothing prepares you for the impact of the Sagrada Família. A tour de force of the imagination, Antoni Gaudí’s church has provoked endless controversy. It also offers visitors the unique chance to watch a wonder of the world in the making. Over the last 90 years, at incalculable cost, sculptors and architects have continued to build Gaudí’s dream. Now financed by over 1 million visitors each year, it is hoped the project will be complete by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.
NEED TO KNOW
Entrances: C/Marina (for groups only) and C/Sardenya • 93 207 30 31 • www.sagradafamilia.org • Open 9am–6pm daily (to 7pm Mar & Oct, 8pm Apr–Sep) • Adm $17 ($25 with audio guide); $27 for combined ticket with Casa-Museu Gaudí, including audio guide; $33 including elevator access to one tower. Advance online booking is recommended. • Check website for full details of guided tours.
- Sit in a terrace bar on Av Gaudí and drink in the view of Gaudí’s masterpiece illuminated at night.
- For the best photos, get here before 8am: the light on the Nativity Façade is excellent and the tour buses haven’t yet arrived.
- In the cryptogram on the Passion Façade, the numbers add up to the age of Christ at his death.
Church Guide
The main entrance is on C/Marina, in front of the Nativity Façade, along with gift shops. There is an elevator in each façade. (Stairs are not open to the public.) The museum is near the entrance on C/Sardenya. Twelve of the 18 planned towers are built and are open to the public, but these are not accessible for those with disabilities.
Church Floor Plan
1. Spiral Staircases
These helicoidal stone stairways, which wind up the bell towers, look like snail shells.
Spiral Staircases
2. Nave
The immense central body of the church, now complete, is made up of leaning, treelike columns with branches that are inspired by a banana tree spreading out across the ceiling; the overall effect is that of a beautiful stone forest.
Nave
3. Nativity Façade
Gaudí’s love of nature is visible in this façade. Up to 100 plant and animal species are sculpted in stone, and the two main columns are supported by turtles.
Nativity Façade
4. Apse
Adorned with serpents, four large snails, and lizards, this was the first section completed by Gaudí. Here, the stained glass graduates in tones beautifully.
5. Hanging Model
This contraption is testimony to Gaudí’s ingenuity. He made the 3D device—using multiple chains and tiny weighted sacks of lead pellets—as a model for the arches and vaulted ceilings of the Colonia Güell crypt. No one in the history of architecture had ever designed a building like this.
6. Spires
Gaudí’s plan originally detailed a total of 18 spires. For a close-up look at the mosaic tiling and gargoyles on the existing spires, take the elevator up inside the bell tower for views that are equally spectacular.
7. Rosario’s Claustro
In the only cloister to be finished by Gaudí, the imagery is thought to be inspired by the anarchist riots that began in 1909. The Devil’s temptation of man is represented by the sculpture of a serpent wound around a rebel.
8. Crypt Museum
Gaudí now lies in the crypt, and his tomb is visible from the museum. Using audiovisual exhibits, the museum provides information about the construction of the church. The highlight is the maquette workshop, producing scale models for the ongoing work.
Crypt Museum
9. Passion Façade
Created between 1954 and 2002, this Josep Subirachs façade represents the sacrifice and pain of Jesus. The difference between the Gothic feel of Subirachs’ style and the intricacy of Gaudí’s work has been controversial.
10. Unfinished Business
The church buzzes with activity: sculptors dangle from spires, stonemasons carve huge slabs of stone, and cranes and scaffolding litter the site. Observing the construction in progress allows visitors to grasp the monumental scale of the project.
