Gaudi's masterpiece in his lifetime: Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is the most famous tourist attraction in Barcelona, and the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, designed by Gaudi. He combined Gothic and Art Nouveau styles, and Gaudi spent basically 43 years of his life on the design and construction of the Sagrada Familia, where he was also buried in the basement. Some people questioned why the church took so long to build, Gaudi said: 'My client is not in a hurry.' The client here refers to 'God'. By the time Gaudi died in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was completed. The current architect is already the fourth generation in charge. The Sagrada Familia has three facades - the 'Nativity Facade', the 'Passion Facade', and the 'Glory Facade', of which the 'Glory Facade' is still under construction; there are eighteen towers, representing the twelve apostles, the Virgin Mary, the four archangels in the Bible, and Jesus Christ. As of January 2023, eleven have been completed. Art critic Reiner Zerbst once said when describing the Sagrada Familia: 'There may not be any similar church buildings in the entire history of art', Paul Goldberger described it as: 'the most extraordinary personal interpretation since Gothic architecture'.