The Sagrada Família wasn’t conceived by Gaudí—it was the brainchild of a Barcelona bookseller after an 1872 visit to Rome; he intended for the structure to be financed entirely by private donations rather than by the state or the coffers of the Vatican. In his symbolic scheme, the basilica would carry a total of 18 towers: 12 dedicated to the Apostles, four to the Evangelists, one to the Virgin Mary, and the tallest of all to Jesus Christ himself. The Jesus tower, whose crown was placed on the basilica in late February, rises from the center of the church like a stone mountain, intentionally higher than the surrounding towers but still slightly lower than Barcelona’s Montjuïc hill—an architectural gesture of humility that Gaudí believed ensured that human work would never surpass God’s creation.
Author: @NatGeo
Published at: 2026-03-12 00:00:00
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