Barcelona's iconic basilica reaches maximum height, bringing it a step closer to completion

Описание: (20 Feb 2026)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Barcelona, Spain - 20 February 2026

1. Tilt up from crowd to wide of Sagrada Familia with crane lifting the upper arm of a cross to the top of the Tower of Jesus Christ
2. Pan from construction workers at the top of the tower to crane lifting piece of the cross
3. Wide of Sagrada Familia with crane
4. Mid of crowd taking pictures
5. Mid of new piece in place
6. Various of chief architect Jordi Faulí i Oller and Mauricio Cortes Sierra, architect in charge of the central towers of the Sagrada Familia
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mauricio Cortes Sierra, architect in charge of the central towers of the Sagrada Familia
“With the placement of the top arm, we’ve finished the exterior of the towers. In the coming weeks we will start dismantling the scaffolding and at the same time doing the final touches, in terms of sealing and in terms of cleaning. And at the same time, we are working on the interior. Now, with the top arm installed, it means the crane cannot access anymore the interiors. So during these past days we’ve storaged (sic: stored) all the materials needed to finish the interior of the cross. And then after that, not only dismantling the scaffolding outside but also the scaffolding inside.”

8. Mid of chief architect Jordi Faulí i Oller and Mauricio Cortes Sierra, architect in charge of the central towers of the Sagrada Familia looking
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mauricio Cortes Sierra, architect in charge of the central towers of the Sagrada Familia
“June 10th is the day of the inauguration of the tower, and the consecration of the tower coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death, on the 10th of June 1926. So there will be a Mass and a benediction, and the Pope is invited to come. This visit is not yet confirmed. The Mass will take place, but we are eager to receive the Pope and we hope he can come.”

10. Tilt up basilica with finished Jesus Christ tower
11. Close of tower

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Locations and dates not supplied

12. STILL of sketch of Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi
13. STILL of Gaudi

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Barcelona, Spain - 22 May 1966
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14. Various of Sagrada Familia

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Barcelona, Spain - 3 April 1996
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15. Pan of Sagrada Familia
16. Pull out Zoom from one of the cathedral spire
17. Various of mosaic decorations on top of spires
18. Tilt up of facade

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oxford, UK - 17 February 2026
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19. SOUNDBITE (English) Gijs Van Hensbergen, Biographer of Antoni Gaudí:
"I think for Barcelona, it's going to be a massive change, particularly if it comes accompanied with, in a sense, what is seen as kind of miraculous, is that a project's lasted and continued for so long and done not with government backing, but with us paying the entrance fee. So for many years, I can remember when going as a... kind of, you know, in my youth or whatever, that you were paying to walk through a building site, and it was pretty full. It's now become a kind of almost as the level of a pilgrimage site. In fact, when Pope Benedict came to turn the, or transform the, and give it the status of basilica, he started off that morning in Santiago de Compostela, which of course for a thousand years had been the greatest pilgrimage site after Jerusalem, and then comes that afternoon to Barcelona, kind of almost signalling deliberately, I think, that this may well be the new pilgrimage site for the next millennium."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Barcelona, Spain - 12 December 2013

20. Wide exterior shot of Sagrada Familia basilica




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