Sagrada Família in 2026: The Tallest Tower Is Finished. What's Left, and When Will It Be Done?

For most of the last century, the Sagrada Família was the building Barcelona was still waiting for. In 2026 that changed. On 20 February the last piece of the cross went onto the Tower of Jesus Christ, bringing the basilica to its full height of 172.5 metres, and on 10 June, exactly a hundred years after Gaudí's death, Pope Leo XIV blessed the tower.

Many people now assume the Sagrada Família is finished. It isn't, quite. Here's what changed this year, what is still to come, and what it means if you're visiting.

Not yet. The central Tower of Jesus Christ was completed in 2026, so the basilica has reached its full height, but the main façade and several towers are still to be built. The most recent forecasts put the end of the structural work around 2034, and some say 2035. The real unknown is the grand staircase at the main entrance, which depends on an agreement over the housing blocks across the street.

172.5 metres, which makes it the tallest church in the world, ahead of Ulm Minster in Germany. Gaudí is said to have kept it just below the height of Montjuïc, on the principle that a work of man shouldn't rise above a work of God. Whether or not he put it in those words, the story is part of how Barcelona talks about the building.

About 80 metres above the ground, a space called the Crossing Room, connected by bridges to the Tower of the Virgin Mary and the four towers of the Evangelists. Work on the tower began in October 2018. Inside there is a figure of the Lamb of God, a lift is being installed, and the top carries the great cross that was assembled piece by piece until February 2026. At the time of writing, the basilica hadn't announced whether or when visitors will be able to go up this tower.

Because it is paid for by visitors and donations rather than by the state, and because Gaudí left more of a vision than a complete set of drawings. Work began in 1882. Gaudí took over the project a year later and gave the rest of his life to it, knowing he wouldn't see it finished. When he died in 1926, only part of the Nativity façade and one of its towers were complete. In 1936, at the start of the Civil War, his workshop was set on fire and many of his plans and plaster models were destroyed. The architects who followed have worked ever since from the surviving fragments, photographs and models, and in the last decades from computer modelling as well.

Book a timed ticket in advance on the official website; turning up and buying on the day rarely works. Allow at least an hour and a half inside. Morning light comes through the cool blue and green windows on the Nativity side and afternoon light through the warm reds and oranges on the Passion side, so the weather matters more than the hour: choose a sunny slot if you can.

2026 is also Barcelona's Gaudí year. The centenary programme runs until Christmas 2026, so you may find exhibitions and events around the city linked to it.

Yes, from the outside. Our Barcelona bike tour stops at the Sagrada Família between Passeig de Gràcia and the Arc de Triomf, with the history of the building, why it's still unfinished, and the details on the Nativity façade that most people walk straight past. If you've booked a ticket to go inside, the ride works well on the same day: you'll go in knowing what you're looking at.