Sagrada Família After the Tower of Jesus: What 172.5 Metres Changes for Visitors
For most of its life the Sagrada Família was the building that would never be finished. In 2026 it got close enough to change the joke. On 20 February a cross was lifted onto the central Tower of Jesus Christ, bringing the basilica to its full height of 172.5 metres and making it the tallest church in the world.
The timing was deliberate. Antoni Gaudí died on 10 June 1926, three days after a tram knocked him down on the Gran Via. On 10 June 2026, the centenary, Pope Leo XIV blessed and inaugurated the new tower. Gaudí had designed it to be a little lower than Montjuïc, on the principle that his work shouldn't rise above God's. It still doesn't.
From inside, none of that height is the point. The photo below is the nave looking up: columns that branch like trees into a canopy of stone, light pouring through clear and coloured glass, and visitors at the bottom of the frame with their heads tipped back and their phones up. It's the reaction everyone has.
What's new, and what isn't
The Tower of Jesus Christ completes the skyline, and from Barcelona's viewpoints the basilica now reads as a finished silhouette for the first time. Inside the tower, though, work goes on: interior finishing and a lift are planned through 2027 and 2028, and the tower itself isn't open to visitors.
What you can climb are the existing towers on the Nativity and Passion façades, by lift up and spiral stairs down, on a separate tower ticket.
The main entrance is the big unfinished piece. The Glory Façade, which will face Carrer de Mallorca and become the formal front door, has no official completion date. Estimates run to the 2030s, partly because its planned approach steps cross land where people live, which is its own long argument.
Tickets and timing
Book online, ahead, always. Same-day tickets sell out most of the year. As of 2026 a basic ticket with audioguide costs about €26, and a ticket with tower access about €36. Check the official site for the current price; it changes yearly.
Go in the morning for the Nativity side, when the sun hits the eastern windows and the interior turns blue and green. Go in late afternoon for the Passion side, when the western glass floods the nave with red and orange. Gaudí planned it that way.
Allow at least 90 minutes inside. Most people spend the first 20 just standing still.
Dress for a church. Shoulders covered, no beachwear. Security checks your bag at the door, and large luggage isn't allowed in.
For more on the basilica: Lost in the Grandeur of the Sagrada Família on Travel Marketing.