The story of this place
Begun in 1882, the Basílica de la Sagrada Família became the obsession of Antoni Gaudí, who took over in 1883 and gave it the last 43 years of his life, living on-site as a recluse. He designed columns that branch like trees and towers that hyperbolically soar, saying 'my client is not in a hurry'—God. In 1926 Gaudí, dishevelled, was struck by a tram and, mistaken for a beggar, died days later; he is entombed in the crypt of his own church. Anarchists burned his workshop and models in 1936, yet work continued from fragments. Consecrated by the Pope in 2010, it may finally be completed near the centenary of his death.