Sagrada Família entry

The Basílica de la Sagrada Família is unlike any church you've seen. Antoni Gaudí took over the project in 1883 and spent the last 43 years of his life on it. Construction is still going — the central towers were only finished in the last decade — but the interior has been open to visitors for years, and it's the main reason people come to Barcelona.

Your entry ticket gives you a timed slot to walk straight in. Without one, you'll join a long queue on Carrer de Mallorca and may not get in at all on busy days. Inside, the nave feels like a stone forest: columns branch like trees, and the stained glass throws blue, green, and gold light across the walls depending on the time of day.

Most visitors spend around 90 minutes inside. That's enough for the nave, the apse, and the museum area in the basement — but not the tower climb, which needs a separate ticket.

Work started in 1882 under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Gaudí redesigned the project a year later in his own style — organic forms, nature as inspiration, every surface covered in symbolism. By the time he died in 1926, only a quarter of the basilica was complete.

The Spanish Civil War damaged models and plans in the workshop. Building resumed slowly through the 20th century, funded entirely by donations and ticket sales. The Nativity facade was the first to go up; the Passion facade followed in the 1980s. The Glory facade at the main entrance is still under construction.

Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church in 2010, even though it won't be finished until the 2030s at earliest. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 2005.

Gaudí designed the interior columns to look like tree trunks. They start as smooth shafts at floor level, then split into branches that support the ceiling vaults. No two columns are identical. Look up and you'll see hyperboloid shapes and star-shaped openings that let light fall in from above.

The stained glass is deliberate: cool blues and greens on the east side for morning, warm reds and golds on the west for afternoon. Visit before noon if you can — the light through the eastern windows is the reason photographers queue for early slots.

In the apse, the altar sits under a baldachin shaped like a vine. The crypt below holds Gaudí's tomb and a small museum about the construction history. It's included in your entry ticket.