The two 135 meter high towers were consecrated and illuminated for the first time. With its completion, the construction of the Sagrada Familia is slowly approaching completion – it has been under construction for 141 years.
Two new towers of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, northeast Spain, were lit up for the first time on Sunday night. Archbishop Juan José Omella had already ceremonially consecrated the two 135-meter-high towers, whose construction was completed in September. The tops of all four evangelistic towers glowed impressively in the dark for the first time. Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s world-famous basilica has been under construction for 141 years.
It is the most visited landmark in Barcelona. The two new towers are dedicated to the evangelists Matthew and John, and their tops are decorated with huge white figures of a man and an eagle. The other two Evangelist Towers, dedicated to the Evangelists Luke and Mark and topped with a bull and a lion, were completed in 2022.
Construction should actually be completed in 2024
With the completion of the two Evangelista towers, the construction of the Sagrada Familia is slowly approaching completion. However, the 172.5 meter high main tower, which is said to be dedicated to Jesus Christ, is still under construction. Gaudí began building his church in 1882 without a building permit. He worked tirelessly at his job until he was struck by a tram in June 1926 and died.
In fact, the basilica was supposed to be completed by the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death in 2026 – but construction work was temporarily halted during the corona pandemic and severely delayed. “If we don’t have another problem as big as the pandemic, the Sagrada Família will be completed in ten years at most,” the president of its board of directors, Esteve Camps, told the local newspaper “La Vanguardia” on Sunday. . (APA/AFP)