- The city granted the current builders a license that is valid through 2026
- Barcelona is the largest building to be designed by Gaudí
- La Sagrada Famila has more than 4.5 million visitors per year
- It will be of the tallest religious structures after construction is completed
Barcelona City Hall has issued a work permit for the Sagrada Familia designed by architect Antoni Gaudí 137 years after construction first began on the monument.
La Sagrada Familia is considered one of Barcelona’s most famous tourist attractions. The request to continue its constructed has been pending since 1885, and it recently got the licence to continue building until 2026, which coincidently will mark a 100 years since Gaudí’s death.
Barcelona’s deputy mayor of urbanism, Janet Sanz, said the new agreement ended a “historic anomaly” in the city. It was also announced that $5.2 million will be paid to the city in fees as part of an agreement with the church’s foundation.
The continuation of its construction is based on copies of Gaudi’s original drawings and plaster models. Once completed, the central towers which are being worked on, would make the modernist monument the tallest religious structure in Europe measuring at 172.5 meters (566ft) tall.
The UNESCO Heritage Site agreed to pay $41million as penalty for not continuing its construction earlier.
