Barcelona is the scene of a historic year. Not only for being World Capital of Architecture, European Capital of Local Commerce or even the starting point of the Tour de France; it is a historic year for a milestone that will be remembered in books, newspaper archives and the city's memory. The basilica of the Sagrada Familia has already crowned its summit, more than 140 years after the first stone. The temple designed by Antoni Gaudí enters a new stage that coincides with an exceptional conjuncture: the celebration of the Any Gaudí, the prospect of a visit from Pope Leo XIV this summer and the feeling that the work is finally approaching its conclusion.
This exceptional moment and everything that derives from it will be the common thread of the next session of the Moments Estel·lars cycle, organized by The New Barcelona Post, which will bring together two of the figures who best know the present and future of the temple: the architect director of the Sagrada Familia, Jordi Faulí, and the general director of the basilica, Xavier Martínez.
In a conversation led by journalist and UPF-BSM professor Toni Aira, Faulí and Martínez will address the current moment of one of the most extraordinary architectural works globally. Organized with the collaboration of Casa Seat, Must Media Group and Barcelona Global, the session will be held on Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m. To attend as an audience and be able to ask questions to the speakers, you must reserve a free ticket.
What does the Sagrada Familia represent for the city? And beyond? And for spirituality? What will the Pope's visit imply? How are the pending works of Gaudí's dream being approached? All these questions and many other issues will be addressed during the session, in a conversation at Casa Seat under the title The Sagrada Familia: culminating Barcelona's dream.
With the 17-meter-high cross already crowning the Jesus Tower and shining on the city's skyline, the temple continues to advance tirelessly, on a path it has traced since the first stone was laid among plots of an Eixample that was beginning to take shape. Now, more than 140 years later, the basilica is also a global phenomenon: every year, more than 4.8 million people visit the temple, making it one of the great tourist attractions in the world, a facet that will also be addressed in the session.
An architectural laboratory
But beyond the figures, its strength lies in its ability to project a singular image of Barcelona: a city where creativity, architecture, and cultural ambition can shape a unique basilica that stands asuniversal symbol and spirituality. This creativity draws from the source of Gaudí and reaches our days through the Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatorio and through professionals and local talent. Architects, engineers, sculptors, builders, artisans, and specialists from multiple disciplines have been working for decades to materialize Gaudí's intuitions with the tools of the 21st century, a fact that makes the temple one of the most unique architectural laboratories in the world.
In this journey, the direction and management of the project have been key to giving continuity to Gaudí's legacy and, at the same time, adapting it to new times. From an institutional point of view, one of the central figures is Xavier Martínez, general director of the Sagrada Familia. Martínez has more than two decades of connection with the temple, where he joined in October 2002 as Financial Director.
On the architectural side, the project falls to Jordi Faulí, director architect and coordinator of the works since October 2012. Architect since 1992 and doctor architect from the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona with a thesis dedicated to the composition and continuity of the columns and vaults of the temple's naves, Faulí has been linked to the Sagrada Familia for more than three decades. He was deputy director architect of the works between 1993 and 2012, and has been part of the temple's Technical Office since 1990. Author of numerous publications and conferences on Gaudí, in 2010 he was recognized with the Ciutat de Barcelona Architecture and Urbanism award, jointly with the rest of the faculty management for the execution of the temple's naves designed by Gaudí.
With an eye on the pending steps in the construction and the future that opens up after more than a century of works, the conversation will delve into the current moment of the Sagrada Familia through two central perspectives; a moment in which the dream that Gaudí imagined for Barcelona seems to be finally outlining its culmination.
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