Jordi Faulí (Barcelona, 1959) joined the Sagrada Familia's technical office in 1990, when the temple was not yet covered. Three years later he was appointed assistant director architect. And in 2012 he became, succeeding Jordi Bonet, the seventh director architect since Antoni Gaudí. Among the milestones of his direction are the completion of the naves and the culmination of the Tower of the Virgin Mary and the Tower of Jesus.

How many old photo albums lying around houses hold pictures taken on rooftops? Grandparents or parents would climb up there with those cameras that had limited technology (they were called "portrait machines"), searching for the light that was lacking in the apartment so the photo wouldn't come out dark, and a simple background that the street couldn't provide. I suppose they must have looked for their own horizon reference point in each location. In Barcelona, ​​it was clear: the Sagrada Família, with those first four bare towers of the Nativity façade on Sardenya Street, which were the image of the city for almost forty years. The image was so fixed that for many Barcelonans, those four spires were enough.

"Not everyone will be able to say, 'I was there when it was being built.'" This was one of the comments made by members of the Premium Club At the start of last Sunday's guided tour of the Sagrada Família, places had been sold out for days (another tour will be scheduled soon), demonstrating that this modernist temple—with elements of contemporary architecture and sculpture—which remains the tallest building in Barcelona and the tallest church in the world, attracts tourists not only from around the globe but also from within Spain. Participants learned little-known details about this unique building, which is a "bible in stone" (it contains numerous elements that explain episodes from the life of Jesus). Macarena Bergada, an art historian and guide at the temple for the past fifteen years, explained to the attendees that the Sagrada Família project began in 1882 with the aim of creating a neighborhood parish church, promoted by a religious association and under the direction of an architect who was not Antoni Gaudí. A year later, Gaudí took over the project and completely transformed its design. The brilliant architect from Reus retained virtually none of the ideas from the original project.

The Gaudí Year 2026 is getting closer. This morning, the Sant Pacià University Athenaeum (AUSP) organized the first event of the commemorations of the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) at the Sagrada Família. The event consisted of a mass in the central nave of the basilica presided over by Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, Grand Chancellor of the AUSP, and the inaugural lecture for the 2025-2026 academic year was given by the director of the temple's works, Jordi Faulí. A prayer at Gaudí's tomb in the crypt before Faulí's speech was one of the most intense moments of the day.

The Sagrada Família is finalizing the work to complete what will be the icing on the cake of the events commemorating the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death. Although it won't be open to visitors until later, the viewing cross that will crown the Sagrada Família's tallest tower will be ready in June 2026, coinciding with the anniversary of the death of the architect who designed the basilica. This figure, 17 meters high, 13.5 meters wide, and weighing 100 tons, will bring the tower of Jesus Christ to a height of 172.5 meters (it currently measures about 155 meters) and make the Sagrada Família the tallest religious building in Europe. It will be one of the milestones of a temple that still faces, however, the challenge of the staircase. An issue that the construction board acknowledged this Thursday will end up in court.

Stores of souvenirs where Messi, Lamine Yamal, and Pablo Escobar jerseys coexist in perfect harmony alongside flamenco dresses, Osborne Bull underwear, and star-studded motifs mixed with Spanish flags. Small shops that promise to be open 24 hours a day, and restaurants serving paella and sangria as their signature dishes, have gradually displaced butcher shops, fruit and vegetable stores, and leather goods stores. Of the traditional neighborhood shops, only the signs remain, now bearing witness to a square kilometer overflowing with tourism: the Sagrada Família neighborhood.

It's official. The Sagrada Família is the tallest building in the city of Barcelona. The temple has reached the top spot on this podium after reaching 155.58 meters in height, just above the 154 meters of the Mapfre Tower and the Hotel Arts, the two buildings that crowned the sky of the Catalan capital since 1992. The milestone reached by Anskyline of Barcelona, where, at the moment, the only taller building outside the urban area is the Torre de Collserola, at 288 meters.

First: give a name to the obelisk in the Plaza del Cinc d'Oros. Barcelona is the only city with an obelisk dedicated to nothing and no one, orphaned, impersonal, extraterrestrial. I don't think the current mayor would mind dedicating it to Liberty, for example, but I'll question it given his phobia of what he calls "conflictive chimeras." I'm urging the issue simply because names do things (they themselves did the same with El Prat Airport). We should also address the names of General Mitre, Juan de Borbón, Isabels and Cristinas, and various Bourbon-style names, the foreign Dos de Mayo or Bailén, and the unbearable absence of a street or square for Salvador Dalí.

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has sentenced the foundation that promotes the Sagrada Família for firing an employee the day after the end of her protective period due to having a child. The judges ruled that the termination of her contract was void and that the foundation's conduct violated her fundamental rights to equality and freedom from discrimination. The ruling emphasizes that the 12 months following the birth of a child guarantee special protection, and during this period, dismissals without objective cause are void and not merely unfair.

The day after a tram on line 30 ended his life on Gran Via - Bailèn, Antoni Gaudí began his journey to the altar. "A saint has died in Barcelona!" he posted. The Voice of Catalonia, and all the newspapers of the time filled him with praise such as "the unique monk of a unique monastery" where he resided with "medieval humility." A crowd accompanied his coffin. Although the twisted forms of Modernisme were unbearable for the Noucentista tastes of the time ("Gaudí's genius has excluded him from his time," wrote Francesc Folguera), his contemporaries were aware of the genius of Gaudí's work. The great Francesc Pujols said in the New Magazine"Give him bricklayers and laborers, stone and cement, and the purse that rings if Barcelona is good, and let him do it, because he already knows what you're up to."

Little by little, new details are emerging about what the Sagrada Família's Jesus Christ tower will look like. This Thursday, it was announced that Italian multimedia artist Andrea Mastrovito (Bergamo, 1978), who lives in New York, has won the competition to design the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), which will be at the center of the cross crowning the tower and visible through the windows of the upper arm. For Mastrovito, "the Lamb suspended between earth and heaven symbolizes the relationship between matter and energy, between the Son and the Father." "Inspired by contemporary cosmology, it incorporates the luminescent inscription of John 1:29, transforming his proposal into an image of the Trinity and the origin of all reality," say sources at the Sagrada Família Basilica. Specifically, this verse reads: "The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and exclaimed, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"

The Sagrada Família Construction Board Foundation has awarded €3.5 million in co-financing grants to 94 projects from various non-profit social organizations. This is the second call for proposals from the Social Action Fund (FAS), an initiative that allocates a portion of the funds raised by the church to help vulnerable groups. The funding has grown compared to the first edition (2023), but so has interest, as €2.3 million was raised and 56 projects were funded.

Miquel Barceló's wishes have been fulfilled: the Board of Trustees of the Sagrada Família has asked him to submit an artistic proposal for the sculptures on the Gloria façade. As the basilica itself has announced, they have also asked the Basque sculptor Cristina Iglesias and the Mexican Javier Marín. The artists must submit their proposals by the end of the year. These proposals will allow the Board of Trustees to "select the artist or artists who will ultimately carry out their execution." Barceló and Marín are eminently figurative artists, while Iglesias is known for her monumental sculptures inspired by the plant world. Iglesias also has the most experience in the field of public art.

The Sagrada Família has requested permission from Barcelona City Council to begin the facade of the Glòria, and this has encouraged me to revisit some reflections I had made many years ago about the surroundings of the monument.

The The Sagrada Família viewing cross, which will make the basilica the tallest religious building in EuropeIt will be discovered on June 2026, coinciding with the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death, but visitors will not be able to access the interior "safely" until the end of 2027. This has also been explained by Esteve Camps, delegate president of the Construction Board, at the press conference of the 2024 project, and argue that security measures must be "totally guaranteed" and open space to the public.

It's bad luck that the day of the Immaculate Conception was one of the windiest in the year. It is the ideal day for the illumination of the star that crowns the Sagrada Familia's tower of Mary. "Is that stuck on all right now? It won't fall off, will it?" asks an elderly man, a little frightened by the wind blowing in the immense square of Gaudí's temple. A few days ago a twelve-pointed star was attached at a height of one hundred and thirty-eight metres, putting the finishing touch on one of the towers of the eternally unfinished church. "Forty-nine years I've lived next door and from the first day this has seemed like a joke to me", exclaims Jeroni, who lives on Carrer de Mallorca. "How can it be that the building hasn't been finished yet? How can this be in my head?", he says as he pulls an incredulous, sardonic face. His friend Jaume reproaches him for his slander, his scepticism, as if he were an overly angry Barcelonian. I look at Wikipedia to check the dates. Construction began in 1882. One hundred and forty years seems a reasonable margin for an architectural project as pharaonic as this one.

The Sagrada Família has already reached 138 metres in height with the completion of the with the completion of the Mare de Déu tower, which, until the tower of Jesus (172.5 metres) has been completed, will be the tallest in the church. Today a large crane has placed the 12-pointed star on top of the tower so that it will be ready for the inauguration on December 8, when it will be illuminated for the first time. Barcelona's skyline, however, has already undergone a historic change today with the crowning of the tower.

The Sagrada Família has risen a little higher with the construction of the tower of the Mare de Déu, which at 127 metres will be the second tallest tower in the church. On Tuesday work began on building the shaft on which the star that will crown the tower will be placed. According to the plan of works of the construction board of the temple for this year, the tower will be completed in December.