What happens when a 19th-century vision collides with 21st-century engineering?
High above Barcelona, a 17-meter cross is being raised onto a tower more than 170 meters tall. When the final section locks into place, the Sagrada Família reaches 172.5 meters—becoming the tallest church in the world, 144 years after construction began.
But the real story is not height. It is how a structure conceived by Antoni Gaudí survived war, a destroyed workshop, lost drawings, generations of architects, and a global pandemic—and how modern technology is finally helping complete an idea that was once too complex for its own era.
Inside are 56 great columns, central columns capable of carrying up to 6,000 tons, stone panels weighing 7–10 tons, CNC-machined components assembled on the ground, hidden steel strengthening the stone, and positioning tolerances of roughly one millimeter.
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The future is still under construction.