Barcelona's Sagrada Familia will soon reach its zenith, but is far from finished.

In the coming days, the final touches are to be added to the Christ Tower, the tallest structure in the building. It is scheduled to be officially inaugurated in June, at a ceremony to which Pope Leo XIV has been invited, although he has not yet confirmed his attendance.

The final piece that will complete the three-dimensional cross crowning the tower sits on a platform 54 meters high, surrounded by scaffolding. A massive yellow crane and climbers will soon lift this last element, bringing the summit of this iconic Barcelona landmark to 172,5 meters.

The Catalan basilica recently took the record for the world's tallest church from Ulm Cathedral in Germany.

However, its summit will not exceed that of Montjuïc mountain in Barcelona, ​​which is 177 meters high.

Blessed on June 10th

"Gaudí, a man of deep Catholic faith, did not want to exceed this limit," that of God's work, explains the architect in charge of the construction of the Mauricio Cortés tower to AFP, amidst the metal structures of Spain's most visited paid monument.

Once the structure is completed and the scaffolding removed, the tower will be blessed on June 10, at the time of the centenary of the death of the Catalan architect, buried in the crypt of this basilica which he began to build in 1883.

"With the installation of the cross, we will be at almost 80% of the construction," Jordi Faulí, the architect who has been directing the work for more than a decade, told AFP in a room away from the comings and goings of visitors, next to several models.

However, this was not how the construction commission, a private canonical foundation, saw things before the pandemic, when it envisioned completing the work in 2026.

But the coronavirus has put global tourism on hold and frozen revenues for the Sagrada Familia, which is funded mainly by visitor tickets and private donations.

Today, with the return of tourists - in 2024, 4,8 million visitors passed through its doors - the commission is hesitant to set a new date to complete the missing parts, including the controversial Glory façade and its four bell towers.

According to the project championed by the architects, the main entrance to the basilica must be preceded by a grand staircase and a square, the realization of which would involve the demolition of several buildings.

The inhabitants have been fighting for years to prevent it.

"Our apartments are legal," proclaims a banner hanging on one of the buildings in question.

The occupants of these buildings claim to have bought their homes without anyone warning them that the construction of the basilica could extend to their homes.

"Extraordinary architect"

"The Sagrada Familia owns one plot of land, it does not own the rest. So why should it come to my house?", protests Salvador Barroso, president of the Association of Residents Affected by the Works of the Sagrada Familia, who denounces "a business".

He acquired his home in the late 1980s and claims he never heard of the staircase project before the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which transformed the city into a major tourist destination.

These locals claim that the controversial staircase was not part of Gaudí's original project, most of whose models were destroyed during the Civil War (1936-1939).

An argument rejected by Jordi Faulí, who claims to be following "faithfully what Gaudí wanted", and points out that in addition to other saved documents, part of the models were later reconstructed by his disciples.

"Gaudí was an extraordinary architect and it is worth pursuing his project and bringing it to completion," he adds, hoping that a "fair solution" will soon be found to build the Glory façade.

The conflict will have to be arbitrated by the city council, which, in the midst of a housing crisis in the city, assures that there will be no agreement that does not guarantee relocation solutions for local residents.