History

The project was initiated by the Josephine Spiritual Association, a conservative Catholic lay organisation that wanted to build a church dedicated to the Holy Family as an act of atonement for the sins of modern secular society. The original architect, Villar, had begun a conventional Neo-Gothic crypt when Gaudí took over; Gaudí redesigned the crypt in a more ornate Gothic manner and then gradually — over the following four decades — evolved an entirely unprecedented architectural language for the rest of the building. The Nativity facade, the east-facing facade that celebrates the birth of Christ, was the first to be designed and is the most profusely ornamented: every surface is covered with naturalistic sculpture of plants, animals, and figures, the stone surface itself textured to suggest organic growth.

Gaudí’s construction method was as unconventional as his forms. He worked with hanging chain models (catenary arches in reverse) to calculate structural loads, photographed the models inverted to reveal the vaulting systems they implied, and employed a team of craft workers — stone carvers, ceramicists, ironworkers — who executed his designs through direct collaboration rather than detailed drawings. When his studio was burned in an anarchist attack in 1936, most of his drawings and models were destroyed; reconstruction of his intentions has required decades of forensic work by the current building committee.

The building was consecrated as a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in November 2010, making it technically complete for liturgical purposes even as construction continues. The completion date, repeatedly revised, is currently projected for the centenary of Gaudí’s death in 2026 — though as of mid-2026, this timeline remains aspirational rather than confirmed, with significant work still to be completed on the Glory facade and the central towers.