TL;DR
The Sagrada Família Foundation projects substantial completion around 2026 to coincide with the centenary of Gaudí's death in 1926. The central Tower of Jesus Christ (172 metres) and remaining towers are the priority. The Glory façade and full exterior sculptural programme may extend into the 2030s. Despite 143 years of construction, the building is closer to completion today than at any point in its history.
What Remains to Be Built
Why Visit Before It's Finished?
You are living through the final years of the most extraordinary building project in human history. Once it is complete, future generations will see only a finished building. You can see it mid-creation — with cranes, scaffolding, and fresh stone being carved alongside 140-year-old masonry. That is a unique historical moment that will not exist again.
The 2026 Centenary: Why That Year Matters
Gaudí died on 10 June 1926, three days after being struck by a tram on the Gran Via. He was 73 years old and had spent the last decade of his life living on-site at the Sagrada Família, devoting himself entirely to the project. He was buried in the crypt chapel where he had prayed daily, and where his tomb remains today.
The 100th anniversary of his death falls in 2026. The Sagrada Família Foundation has worked toward completing the central Tower of Jesus Christ in that year as an act of dedication. Whether the tower reaches full completion precisely in 2026 or extends slightly beyond it, the symbolic weight of the centenary year has focused and accelerated the construction programme. The tower capped with its four-armed cross, rising 172.5 metres above Barcelona, would be the most visible tribute possible to the man who conceived it.
What Changes When the Central Tower Is Complete
When the Tower of Jesus Christ is complete, the Sagrada Família will become the tallest church in the world, surpassing the Ulm Minster in Germany (161.5 metres) and Cologne Cathedral (157 metres). This is not incidental: Gaudí specified the height with this record in mind, though he expressed it in his own terms. He stated the building should be one metre shorter than Montjuïc hill (approximately 173 metres) as an act of humility.
The completed central tower will change the building's silhouette dramatically. Currently the skyline shows a cluster of roughly equal spires. With the central tower in place, the hierarchy that Gaudí designed becomes visually legible from across the city: one commanding peak flanked by the four evangelist towers, with the twelve apostle towers forming the outer ring.
For visitors who have seen the building in its current incomplete state, returning after the central tower is finished will feel like seeing an entirely different landmark. Those visiting now have the rarer experience.
Why Construction Is So Much Faster Now
Three factors explain the accelerated pace of the last two decades. First, computer-aided design has resolved structural problems that once required years of physical model-making. Second, CNC stone-cutting equipment allows complex curved surfaces to be pre-cut off-site to exact specifications, reducing on-site carving time dramatically. Third, funding has grown substantially: visitor numbers have risen from roughly 2 million per year in 2000 to over 4.5 million today, and since construction is funded entirely by admissions and private donations, this directly translates into construction budget.
There is a certain irony: the building's global fame, driven partly by the spectacle of its incompleteness, is what funds its completion. More visitors means more money means faster building means, eventually, no more spectacle of a building under construction. The Sagrada Família is finishing itself on the curiosity of people who came to see it unfinished.