Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia to reach its peak with completion of its central tower
ABC News
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will reach its highest point as workers place a cross on its central Tower of Jesus Christ
BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelona's towering Sagrada Familia basilica will reach its maximum height on Friday, though the magnum opus of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí remains years away from completion.
A crane was placing the upper arm of a cross atop the “Tower of Jesus Christ," the church's soaring central piece, which will stand 172.5 meters (566 feet) above the city, the church said.
While the unfinished monument is already the world's tallest church, with Friday's addition the Sagrada Familia — still surrounded by building cranes and scaffolding — will inch closer to being done.
The first stone of the Sagrada Familia was placed in 1882, but Gaudí never expected it to be completed in his lifetime. Only one of its multiple towers was finished when he died at the age of 73 in 1926 after being hit by a tram.
In recent decades, work has sped up as the basilica became a major international tourist attraction with people around the world visiting Barcelona to see the monument, enthralled by Gaudí’s radical aesthetic that combines Catholic symbolism and organic forms.
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