Sagrada Família is named the world’s tallest church

Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Serikzhan Kovlanbayev

After a cross was installed on the central tower of the Sagrada Família, the renowned basilica in Barcelona, Spain, has become the world’s tallest church, the BBC reported. It now stands 162.91 meters high, surpassing Ulm Minster in Germany, which had held the record since 1890.

Construction of the church in central Barcelona has continued for more than a century. The project was designed and initially overseen by Antoni Gaudí, the celebrated Catalan architect. By the time of Gaudí’s death in 1926, only one of the planned 18 towers had been completed.

The main structure — the central Tower of Jesus Christ — is expected to be completed a century later. Once the final sections of the cross are added, the basilica’s height will reach 172 meters.

One reason the construction has taken so long is that funding for the project comes from visitors, tourists and private benefactors who continue to support Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece.