Closed for a year by the pandemic, and crippled by a shortage of cash usually generated by millions of tourists, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica will not be finished by 2026, as hoped, for the hundredth anniversary of its architect’s death.
The delay is caused by a shortage of funds, as most of the money for the recent phases of construction comes from visitor admissions.
The UNESCO Heritage site, designed principally by Catalan architect and Modernist innovator Antoni Gaudi, is not setting a new date, according to Xavier Martinez, director general of the project, who told Reuters that “We had forecast to finish the work in 2026. Regretfully, this will not be possible. It could be in 2030, 2035, 2040. I would be lying if I were to say a precise date.” Even with a limited re-opening this weekend, it will take months to build up funds, and months to restart the work.
The project is no stranger to delays; Gaudi began work on Sagrada Familia in 1883, abandoning the plans of the architect who had started building it the year before. Work was stopped in 1910 when funds ran out, for a time in 1926 when Gaudi died, again during the Spanish Civil War and after. Only in the past decade or so has work picked up at a rapid pace.
Image: PHeymont/TravelGumbo
