Will the Sagrada Família Be Finished in 2026? (And Can You Still Visit During Construction?)

Short answer: not entirely — but the single most important milestone in the building’s history has already happened. On 20 February 2026, the Sagrada Família structurally completed its central Tower of Jesus Christ, finally reaching its definitive height of 172.5 metres. The exterior silhouette Antoni Gaudí dreamed of more than a century ago is now standing complete. However, interior work is expected to continue through 2027 and 2028, so whether you call it “finished” depends entirely on what you mean by the word. And the question most travellers really care about — can you still visit right now? — has a clear answer: yes, absolutely.

This is one of the most common points of confusion for anyone planning a trip to Barcelona in 2026, so let’s clear it up properly.

What was actually completed in 2026?

The headline event was the Tower of Jesus Christ, the tallest of the basilica’s eighteen towers and the one Gaudí always intended to be its crowning summit. After construction on this particular tower began back in October 2018, the final piece of the cross that tops it was lifted into place on 20 February 2026.

The cross itself is a monument in its own right. It stands roughly 17 metres tall — about the height of a five-storey building — and spans around 13.5 metres across its four arms. It was assembled and raised in seven separate sections, a feat of engineering precision given that the work was happening more than 160 metres above the ground.

With that final piece installed, the basilica reached its full and final height of 172.5 metres. That number matters for a reason we’ll come back to in a moment, because it’s one of the most quietly beautiful decisions Gaudí ever made.

The completion of the central tower means the Sagrada Família is now officially the tallest church in the world, overtaking the Ulm Minster in Germany, which had held the title for well over a century.

The detail most people miss: why 172.5 metres?

Here’s the part that turns a statistic into a story. Gaudí deliberately designed the tower so that its summit would sit just below the nearby hill of Montjuïc, which rises to roughly 177 metres.

His reasoning was deeply symbolic. He believed that a structure built by human hands should never rise higher than the work of nature, which he understood as the work of God. So the tallest church on Earth stops, very intentionally, about a metre short of Barcelona’s natural high point. It is architecture as an act of humility — a fitting signature for a man who poured the last decades of his life into the project and is buried within its crypt.

So is it “done”?

Not quite, and this is exactly where most quick news headlines mislead people. The exterior profile has reached its maximum point, and the building now looks essentially complete from the outside. But several things remain:

• Interior cladding and finishing on the central tower, which is expected to continue through 2027 and 2028.
• The Glory façade, the grandest and most ambitious of the three great façades, which is still being developed. This is the main entrance Gaudí designed to represent the path to God, and it remains the largest unfinished element of the building.
• Various decorative and structural details scattered across the basilica, the kind of fine work that a project of this scale always carries into its final years.

So if your mental image of “finished” means scaffolding-free, with every last sculpture in place and not a single working area in sight, that vision is still a few years away. But — and this is the important part — the building you’ll walk into today is dramatically closer to Gaudí’s complete vision than anything visitors saw even five years ago.

A genuinely historic year: the Gaudí centenary

There’s another reason 2026 stands out. It marks 100 years since Antoni Gaudí’s death in 1926. He was struck by a tram in Barcelona and, famously, was initially mistaken for a beggar because of his shabby clothes, dying a few days later. At that point only around 10–15% of the basilica had been built.

To mark the centenary, the basilica is running a programme of commemorative events stretching from late 2025 through to Christmas 2026. The Tower of Jesus Christ is set to be formally inaugurated on 10 June 2026, an occasion expected to draw international attention. In short, this is not just another year to visit — it’s a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of the building reaching its peak and the man who designed it being honoured a century after his death.

Can you actually visit during the remaining construction?

Yes. This is worth stressing because some travellers genuinely worry the basilica might be “closed for completion.” It isn’t. The Sagrada Família has welcomed millions of visitors throughout its construction for decades — the construction has always been part of the experience — and that hasn’t changed in 2026.

What can vary is the detail. Some areas may occasionally be screened off for ongoing work, and exactly which towers are open for climbing can change from time to time. But the core of the experience is fully open: the soaring nave with its famous forest of branching columns, the Nativity and Passion façades, and above all the extraordinary interior light that pours through the stained glass and shifts in colour as the day moves.

If anything, visiting now carries a unique appeal. You get to witness the building at the precise moment it crosses from “under construction” into “structurally complete” — something no future visitor will ever be able to say they experienced.

Practical tips for a 2026 visit

Because this is the centenary year and the year the tower was completed, expect heavier crowds than usual, particularly around the June inauguration and through the peak summer months. Planning ahead matters more this year than ever.

Check dates and book your Sagrada Família tickets here »

A few things worth knowing before you go:

• Book a time slot well in advance. Same-week availability is frequently gone in peak months, and 2026’s extra demand makes this worse.
• Add tower access when you book if you want to go up. Tower slots are limited and tend to sell out first.
• Consider a guided tour this year in particular. A good guide will point out exactly what has been newly completed and explain the symbolism of the central tower, which is fresh information that older guidebooks simply don’t cover.
• Visit early or late in the day for softer light and slightly thinner crowds, and aim to spend at least two hours inside if you want to take it in properly.

The bottom line

The Sagrada Família will not be 100% finished in 2026 — interior work runs on into 2027 and 2028, and the Glory façade remains a work in progress. But it has reached the most significant milestone in its 144-year history, it’s now the tallest church in the world, and 2026 is the centenary of Gaudí’s death. For most travellers, the honest conclusion is simple: this is one of the best years there has ever been to see it, construction and all.