2026 We Build Sagrada Familia

Since construction began over 125 years ago, the Sagrada Família has stood in various stages of incompletion. But, according to The Guardian, Gaudí’s sprawling basilica has finally received an “official” completion date–sometime between 2026 and 2028. That timetable is scheduled around the centenary of the architect’s death, in 1926, when he was struck by a moving tram.

At the time of his death, Gaudí had been living in the church crypt, amid a menagerie of large-scale models and plaster mock-ups.

Over the ensuing 85 years, the construction site has experienced numerous setbacks

Barcelona’s world famous Sagrada Família will finally be finished by 2026, the architect in charge has vowed… nearly 150 years after work began. That will make it ready in time for the centenary of the death of architect Antoni Gaudí, who famously joked that his client, God, was in no hurry to see it finished.

Sagrada Familia Finished Nave

La Sagrada Família attracts around 3million visitors a year, whose entrance fees pay for most of the €25million a year cost of continuing its construction, with gifts from private donors making up the rest.

How Sagrada Familia Will Look In 2026

Construction began in 1882, with Gaudí’s involvement commencing the following year when he took over the project and radically transformed it’s design with his distinctive Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau style. Problems have long dogged work on Barcelona’s second cathedral, with Gaudí neck-deep in the project when he was killed in 1926 when he was run over by a tram.

This video shows what the culmination of the work being funded mainly through public donations, including the massive, yet-to-be-finished 564-foo tower at its center. But a lot can happen between now and 2026—so we’ll believe it when we see it.