The short version
- Nativity Façade (morning side): Christ's birth, Gaudí's own work, joyful and crowded with carved plants and animals.
- Passion Façade (afternoon side): Christ's death, sculpted by Josep Maria Subirachs from 1986, stark and bone-like on purpose.
- Glory Façade (Carrer de Mallorca): the planned main entrance, still only base pillars in 2026, projected around 2034–2035.
- 18 towers in a hierarchy, topped by the 172.5 m Tower of Jesus Christ, the tallest church tower in the world.
Gaudí and his vision for the temple
The Sagrada Família wasn't originally Gaudí's project. It was conceived by a devout bookseller, Josep Maria Bocabella, and construction began in 1882 to a conventional neo-Gothic design by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Within a year disagreements led Villar to resign, and in 1883 the commission passed to a 31-year-old Gaudí. He kept only the crypt Villar had started and replaced everything else with something new: a style that combined Catalan Modernisme with Gothic structural logic and, above all, the forms of nature. He famously said he wanted to build "a church that looks like a forest."
From around 1914 Gaudí turned down all other commissions to work only on the temple, eventually living simply on the building site itself. He saw the project as an act of religious devotion and became known as "God's Architect." On 7 June 1926, walking to confession, he was struck by a tram. Dressed plainly and carrying no identification, he wasn't recognised and at first received only basic care. He died three days later, on 10 June 1926, and is buried in the basilica's crypt. An estimated 30,000 people lined the streets for his funeral.
2026 marks the centenary of his death. Pope Francis declared Gaudí "Venerable" in 2025, a step on the path to sainthood, though beatification (which requires a verified miracle) had not happened as of mid-2026. Pope Leo XIV visited Barcelona in June 2026 and, on 10 June, exactly 100 years after Gaudí's death, celebrated Mass at the basilica and inaugurated its newly completed central tower before an estimated 120,000 people. The construction story from 1882 to today is on our construction status page.
The Nativity Façade: Gaudí's own work
The Nativity Façade faces the rising sun (strictly north-east, because the basilica follows the Eixample street grid) and celebrates the birth and early life of Christ. It's the only façade Gaudí built substantially himself, and he did it first for a practical reason. In his words: "If instead of creating this decorated, ornate and bombastic façade, I had begun with the Passion, hard, bare and bone-like, people would have expressed disapproval." He built the joyful entrance first, deliberately, to win public and donor support for a project he knew he wouldn't live to finish.
Three portals represent the theological virtues: Hope (left, dedicated to Joseph), Charity (centre, the largest, dedicated to Jesus) and Faith (right, dedicated to Mary). The columns flanking the portals rest on a sea turtle and a land tortoise, symbols of permanence, while chameleons at the sides represent change.
Look for the central Nativity scene with the ox, the mule and the shepherds; groups of angels playing musical instruments; the Flight into Egypt; and, crowning the whole composition, a cypress Tree of Life with white doves and a pelican at the top, an ancient symbol of self-sacrifice. Gaudí made casts of real plants and animals to get the naturalistic detail, which is why this façade looks so crowded, organic and almost melting, in deliberate contrast to what came later on the opposite side of the building.
The façade's four bell towers are dedicated to the apostles Barnabas, Simon, Jude Thaddeus and Matthias. Barnabas's tower, finished in 1925, was the only one Gaudí lived to see completed. In 2005 the Nativity Façade and the crypt were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List under "Works of Antoni Gaudí", recognising the parts of the building that most directly show his own hand.
Want only the outside explained? The Sagrada Familia Exterior: The Secrets of the Facades tour ($17, 1 hour) covers the Nativity, Passion and Glory façades, the apse and the bell towers with an official guide and a tablet to pick out the details, in groups of up to 15. It doesn't include entry to the basilica. Its review base is small, 4.3 from 19 reviews, so read the recent ones before booking.
The Passion Façade: stark, bone-like, controversial
The Passion Façade faces the setting sun (strictly south-west) and shows Christ's suffering, crucifixion and death, and Gaudí wanted it to look nothing like the Nativity side. He specified it should be "harsh and cruel, as if made of bones," saying: "I wanted it to inspire fear... I'm willing to sacrifice the building itself, to break arches, cut down columns, in order to give people an idea of how bloody the sacrifice is." Six massive inclined columns, like bones or sequoia trunks, support the structure.
Gaudí left only a rough 1917 sketch of this façade before he died. Construction of the structure began in 1954, and from 1986 the Catalan sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs carried out the sculptures, working until 2005, with final elements added by 2018. Out of respect for Gaudí, Subirachs deliberately avoided copying his organic style and chose an angular, stark, modernist look instead. It caused real controversy and still does: critics called it a betrayal of Gaudí's vision, while defenders argue its harshness is exactly what Gaudí asked for.
Read the sculptures from bottom to top in an S-shape: the Last Supper, the Kiss of Judas, Peter's denial, the Flagellation, Ecce Homo, Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross, Veronica's veil, the Crucifixion and the empty tomb. Beside the Kiss of Judas is Subirachs's magic square, a 4×4 grid of numbers where every row, column and diagonal adds up to 33, the traditional age of Christ at his death. He adapted it from Dürer's famous 1514 engraving, changing two numbers to reach 33 instead of the original 34.
The four Passion bell towers are dedicated to the apostles James the Less, Bartholomew, Thomas and Philip.
Nativity vs Passion, side by side
| Nativity Façade | Passion Façade | |
|---|---|---|
| Faces | East (sunrise) | West (sunset) |
| Theme | Birth, life | Suffering, death |
| Style | Organic, teeming, soft | Angular, stark, bone-like |
| Built by | Gaudí himself | Subirachs, after Gaudí's death |
| Stained glass | Cool blues and greens | Warm oranges and reds |
| Best light | Morning | Late afternoon |
These are also the two façades you can climb. Each carries a set of apostle bell towers with public access, so the choice of tower follows the same morning and afternoon logic. The official €36 ticket at sagradafamilia.org lets you pick either side; on GetYourGuide the Sagrada Familia Entry Ticket with Audio Guide (from $39, 4.6 from 119,000+ reviews) adds a Nativity or Passion tower as an option, and the small-group Guided Tour with Towers Access ($127, 4.7 from 236 reviews, groups of 9) includes the Passion towers. Our complete tower guide compares the two climbs.
The Glory Façade: still unfinished
The third façade, facing south onto Carrer de Mallorca (strictly south-east), is planned as the main entrance and the largest and most ambitious of the three. It will show death, the Final Judgement and the path to eternal glory, including the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues. As of 2026 only its base pillars are under construction, and its four apostle towers (planned for Andrew, Peter, Paul and James the Greater) haven't been built. Completion of the structure is projected around 2034–2035.
Its most contested element is Gaudí's planned monumental staircase, which would require demolishing several buildings on the opposite side of Carrer de Mallorca. That plan remains legally and politically unresolved, with residents' groups actively contesting it, and it's likely to be the last piece of the whole project to be settled.
The towers: a symbolic hierarchy
Gaudí planned 18 towers in total, each representing a specific figure, and their heights rise with spiritual rank:
- 12 apostle towers: four over each façade (Nativity, Passion and the not-yet-built Glory).
- 4 evangelist towers (135 m), each crowned with its traditional symbol: Matthew (winged man), Mark (lion), Luke (ox) and John (eagle). All were completed in 2023.
- 1 Virgin Mary tower (138 m), completed in 2021 and topped with a 12-pointed star.
- 1 Tower of Jesus Christ: the tallest, in the centre, at 172.5 m. It was completed externally in February 2026 and inaugurated by Pope Leo XIV that June, making the basilica the tallest church in the world. Gaudí deliberately kept it just below the height of Montjuïc hill, out of religious humility: no human creation should surpass God's.
How the interior works
Gaudí described the inside of the basilica as a forest, its columns as trees and its vaults as a canopy. The columns branch as they rise and carry the weight straight down, which is why the building needs none of the external flying buttresses that hold up a Gothic cathedral. Different stones are used according to load: sandstone, granite, basalt and, hardest of all, porphyry for the four central columns under the Tower of Jesus Christ. Each column is cut into a star-shaped cross-section, with more points the more weight it carries.
The shapes themselves (hyperboloids, helicoids and catenary arches) look organic but are generated by geometry, which let Gaudí design forms that were both strong and buildable long before computer modelling existed. He worked some of this out with hanging chain models: weighted strings hung up and photographed upside down to reveal efficient structural curves.
The stained glass, made over two decades by the glazier Joan Vila-Grau, follows the same light symbolism described on the rest of this site: cool blues and greens on the Nativity (east) side for morning light and birth, warming to oranges and reds on the Passion (west) side for evening light and death. The interior guide walks through the nave column by column, and the best time to visit guide has the hours when each side's colours are strongest.
Want the structure explained by an architect? The Sagrada Familia Private/Small Group Tour with an architect (from $196, 1.5 hours) is led by a licensed architect and includes entry, the interior and the museum with its models and drawings. It's rated 4.96, but from only 32 reviews, so check the recent ones.
Sagrada Família: quick facts
- Construction began: 1882; Gaudí took over in 1883.
- Height: 172.5 m, the tallest church in the world as of 2026, surpassing Germany's Ulm Minster.
- Funding: entirely private, from donations and ticket sales, with no government or church funding, making it one of the largest privately financed building projects of its kind.
- UNESCO status: the Nativity Façade and the crypt were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2005.
- 1936 setback: anarchist militants in the Spanish Civil War burned Gaudí's workshop and destroyed many of his original models and drawings, a loss that still shapes arguments over how faithfully later additions follow his intentions.
- Visitors: a record 4.9 million people visited in 2025, making it one of the most-visited monuments in Europe.
- Completion: the main towers are architecturally complete as of 2026; the Glory Façade and remaining decorative work are projected for the mid-2030s.
Verify before you go
- Gaudí's beatification status, which may change.
- The Glory Façade's construction progress and the staircase dispute, both still developing.
- Whether the Tower of Jesus Christ's interior viewing platform has opened (it's targeted for 2027).
Quick answers
Which façade of the Sagrada Família did Gaudí build himself?
The Nativity Façade, facing the morning sun, is the only one Gaudí built substantially himself. He built it first on purpose, to win public and donor support, and only one of its four bell towers, Saint Barnabas, was finished in his lifetime, in 1925. The Nativity Façade and the crypt were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.
Who designed the Passion Façade?
Gaudí left only a rough 1917 sketch. The structure was begun in 1954, and from 1986 the Catalan sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs carried out the sculptures, working until 2005, with final elements added by 2018. He deliberately avoided imitating Gaudí's organic style, and the angular result is still controversial.
What is the magic square on the Sagrada Família?
A 4x4 grid of numbers beside the Kiss of Judas on the Passion Façade, where every row, column and diagonal adds up to 33, the traditional age of Christ at his death. Subirachs adapted it from Dürer's 1514 engraving, changing two numbers so the total is 33 instead of 34.
How many towers does the Sagrada Família have?
Gaudí planned 18: 12 apostle towers (four over each façade), 4 evangelist towers at 135 m, the Virgin Mary tower at 138 m, and the central Tower of Jesus Christ at 172.5 m. The four apostle towers of the Glory Façade are the only ones not yet built.
Is the Glory Façade finished?
No. As of 2026 only its base pillars are under construction and its four apostle towers haven't been built. Completion of the structure is projected around 2034 to 2035, and the monumental staircase Gaudí planned in front of it is still legally and politically unresolved.
Why doesn't the Sagrada Família need flying buttresses?
Its tree-like columns branch as they rise and carry the weight of the vaults straight down to the ground, so none of the external flying buttresses a Gothic cathedral relies on are needed. Gaudí found these efficient curves partly with hanging chain models, photographed upside down.
Stand at the Nativity Façade in the morning for Gaudí's own crowded, joyful carving, then walk round to the Passion Façade in the afternoon for Subirachs's stark answer to it, and find the magic square beside the Kiss of Judas. Inside, look up at the branching columns and follow the light from blue-green to orange-red across the nave. If you'd like someone to point it all out, pick a tour that starts outside at the façades.