For months, it has been necessary to plan a visit to the Sagrada Família well in advance. Tickets to tour the interior of the basilica are sold out twenty days in advance on the official website and, beyond that, one must adapt to the available schedules. The completion of the Jesus tower and the announcement of the Pope’s visit to bless it on June 10 have multiplied interest in the tallest church in the world.
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“We are a bit scared by the number of people who have requested to attend the celebration,” admits Esteve Camps, delegated president of the Sagrada Família construction board. Compared to the visit of Benedict XVI, who in 2010 dedicated the Sagrada Família to worship, “we have now doubled and almost tripled the number of requests,” Camps adds. He explains that “members of the Government, the Royal House, Barcelona authorities, politicians no longer in office, and all of Catalonia are requesting tickets.” And the capacity is limited to 4,000 people. “It is a success that we have to know how to manage,” he states.
The previous visit of Pope Benedict XVI and the completion of the naves marked a turning point for the Sagrada Família. Since then, visits have increased year by year, except for the pandemic pause, reaching a record number last year when 4.87 million visitors entered the basilica’s interior (89% foreigners), resulting in revenues of 130 million euros.
The construction board leaders had anticipated the effect of the completion of the Jesus tower and the new papal visit, but reality has exceeded expectations. According to Camps, in recent weeks, some days have reached 17,000 visitors, when the usual number is around 15,000 daily. Added to this is the media excitement. For weeks, requests from television and media worldwide to show the Sagrada Família with the central towers already finished have multiplied. From Japan to Korea, through the United States and countries across Europe. “In 2010 we experienced a very important moment, but this is incomparable,” he says.
On June 10, the day that will mark exactly one hundred years since Antonio Gaudí’s death, Pope Leo XIV will participate in the morning in the institutional floral offering in the basilica’s crypt, where the architect’s tomb is located. In the afternoon, the Pontiff will officiate the solemn mass to pay tribute to Gaudí’s spiritual and artistic legacy. Then he will bless and inaugurate the Jesus tower.
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“It will be a historic moment and represents the culmination of one of the central elements of his design and a decisive step in the realization of the temple as he conceived it,” Camps maintains. Thousands of people are expected to follow the event from outside the basilica, through screens installed for the occasion, as was done at the inauguration of the Mary tower on December 8, 2021. That night will also see the premiere of the artistic lighting of the cross. In addition to interior lighting, the arms of the structure will also project light.
After the ceremony officiated by the Pope and the blessing of the tower, the lighting of the cross will be premiered
Meanwhile, preparations for the visit and inauguration of the Jesus tower are balanced with around 15,000 daily visits to the temple, the institutional agenda, events related to the Gaudí year, and works to complete the temple. “We will only stop on the day of the Pope’s visit,” Camps states. Besides the work inside the central tower, which is expected to be visitable from 2028 when the elevator to access the cross is installed, there are other construction fronts open.
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Currently, work is underway on the foundations of the Glory façade, in the baptistery chapel, in the Assumption chapel on Provença street, and in the cloister section of that street. The construction board’s announced goal is to complete the temple’s work, including the verticality of the Glory façade, within ten years. The plan does not include the construction of the square above Mallorca street and the staircase that will give access to the main façade of the Sagrada Família, the Glory façade. This implies the demolition of buildings located on the other side of Mallorca street. Negotiations are being conducted with maximum discretion, and the announced goal, both by the construction board and the City Council, is to reach an agreement with the neighbors before the end of this legislature, which ends next spring.
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In the coming months, most likely after the Pontiff’s visit and before summer, the construction board will also announce the name of the artist or artists who will be responsible for shaping the Glory façade. In March last year, the board requested projects from Cristina Iglesias, Javier Marín, and Miquel Barceló. The artists submitted their proposals at the end of the year, and now it is the construction board that, based on reports from the theological commission and the artistic commission, must decide which artistic project to choose. It could be awarded to just one of the authors or opt for a collective project. So far, nothing has been revealed about the final decision.
Before summer, the construction board will announce which artist will be responsible for the Glory façade
Gaudí conceived this façade, the main one, as an invitation, a path to glory and eternal happiness prior to entering the temple. It will be a major artistic challenge with the representation of hell at the lower part of the façade (below the large access square), purgatory at the entrance level, and heaven at the top. The Glory façade will have, like the Nativity and Passion façades, four bell towers and another 16 in the large entrance porch.
All the temple’s works must also include those the City Council is carrying out outside. In a first phase, work was done on Provença and Mallorca streets, but the bulk of the intervention is currently on Marina street, in front of the Nativity façade, and is expected to be completed by the end of this month, just before the Pope’s visit.
The works consist of urbanizing a large space of 6,200 m2 between the Sagrada Família and Gaudí square, to open up the public space. The intervention is part of the action plan for the high-traffic area (EGA) of the Sagrada Família to mitigate the tourist impact around the basilica, where, according to City Council data, about 40,000 people circulate daily, including those visiting the basilica’s interior and those who simply admire it from outside, as well as residents.
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