San Francisco Frontiers - Barcelona's unfinished basilica hits new heights despite delays

Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54 metres (177 feet) above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower.

A huge yellow crane will bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5 metres and has snatched the record as the world's tallest church from Germany's Ulm Minster.

The basilica's peak will deliberately fall short of the 177 metres of Barcelona's Montjuic hill, in accordance with the devout Catholic faith of famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, who took charge of the project in 1883.

"Gaudi did not want to exceed that height" because the Montjuic hill was the work of God, according to Mauricio Cortes, a senior architect working on the construction site.

When the structure is completed and the scaffolding dismantled, the tower will be blessed on June 10 to coincide with the centenary of the death of Gaudi, whose body lies in the basilica's crypt.

The Vatican has not yet confirmed whether Pope Leo XIV will accept an invitation to the tower's inauguration.

"Once the cross is installed, the project will be nearly 80% complete," Jordi Fauli, the architect who has led the work for more than a decade, told AFP.

- Residents in uproar -

The construction board, a private canonical foundation, had intended to complete work on the Sagrada Familia, considered the world's most famous unfinished building, this year.

But the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed the tourism industry -- and with it the key source of income of the most-visited of Spain's monuments that charge an entrance fee.

Tourists from around the world are now flooding back: 4.8 million visitors arrived in 2024, boosting the coffers of the basilica, which relies on the takings as well as private donations.

Yet the board is reticent to set a new finish date for the remaining work, including the divisive Glory Facade and its four bell towers.

The board's plan to precede the front entrance by a large flight of steps and a square would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes.

The residents have spent years fighting to halt the plan.

"Our houses are legal," reads a sign hanging from one of the threatened buildings.

"The Sagrada Familia owns a plot of land; it does not own the rest. So why should it reach my home?" said Salvador Barroso, president of an association for residents affected by the construction work.

Residents say their flats were purchased legally, and no one warned them that the area could form part of the Sagrada Familia site.

Barroso acquired his home in the late 1980s and only started hearing about the stairway project from 1992, when the Barcelona Olympics transformed the city's image as a tourist magnet.

"What this is really about is business," Barroso said of the expansion.

- 'Faithful' to Gaudi -

The residents have also questioned the stairs' place in Gaudi's original plan.

Critics frequently point out that the architect's models were mostly destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and say the church has lost its creator's essence.

Lead architect Fauli, speaking to AFP next to various models of the Sagrada Familia in a room away from the droves of tourists, insisted that "we are, in all parts of the project, faithfully following what Gaudi wanted".

Other documents were saved, and a portion of the models were reconstructed afterwards by Gaudi's disciples, he added.

"Gaudi was an extraordinary architect, and it is worth following his project and finishing it," said Fauli, who hopes to find "a fair solution" for the Glory Facade.

Barcelona's town hall will mediate the conflict and says any agreement must guarantee a solution for the residents, in a city already undergoing a severe housing crisis.

But after years of disagreements, an end to almost a century and a half of work at the Sagrada Familia seems closer than ever.

"I hope the dispute is resolved. What I cannot say is whether it will be resolved in the courts or ... sat at a table," said Barroso.

R.Baker--SFF