This is not my umpteenth article defending the need to finish the Sagrada Familia, as everyone with a bit of sense already subscribes to, but rather pointing out the objections and contradictions that the temple provokes in me. Yes, I have always believed (and still believe) that trying to stop the works is equivalent to getting stuck in time, disobeying Gaudí's wish, and demonstrating that we don't know how to go anywhere without the watchful eye of the Great Architect of the Universe. I am in favor of it being finished and I am in favor of contemporary artists intervening, as Miquel Barceló seems to be doing on the Glòria facade (if it happens, the result will be glorifying), and as Subirachs did on the Passion facade, even though its result is not exactly passionate.
Although I will always be in favor, a few days ago I was looking at it with the new winged additions (Saint Leo and Saint Bull evangelists) and, while I liked that it was continuing, I also felt a pang in my heart that told me I wish it would take a long time to finish. To continue seems to me a duty, a moral obligation, an incontrovertible decision. But to finish, this finishing, now that I see it so close, begins to seem something close to sin. That is not the attitude I like most. To walk and build seems to me a must, but to finish is a feeling that only causes me nostalgia. As if, on the great central tower planned for 2026, it should appear in large Gaudinian letters: "And now what?".
Evidently, there will still be things missing: the aforementioned Glory facade will take a long time, as will the demolition of the Núñez y Navarro building on Mallorca street, which must not only be demolished but directed towards hell, the main staircase, the new distribution of spaces, the interiors, the new museum… I even believe that this area should be the object of something similar to a Superblock, much more than the mess they are making in Consell de Cent, since Gaudí precisely foresaw for the vicinity of the temple the arrangement of a wide, star-shaped garden area, which should not be so difficult to plan simultaneously with the last phases of the temple. There is still work, yes, but now that I see the central towers so high up, I cannot help but feel a little nostalgic and miss the usual skyline. A skyline that was not only Gaudí-beautiful, but also told the visitor "we are under construction here. We are not finished here. We do not stop here, our state is one of a permanent work in progress and this also makes us unique". As if we were also the city of the white monkey, of the dancing egg or of the Caganer.com shops.
You observe it and realize that now it's serious, that it already occupies almost all its volume in height, and that it was about making a great temple and not a romantic postcard. A work and not some works. You realize that one day the party will end, as if the children were leaving home or as if you were closing a big project, and you wonder if you will feel good with the emptiness caused by the new blank page or with this post-partum depression. It has been many years, you thought you had it under control and even enjoyed watching how it incorporated new pieces, even if you were not convinced of that intervention here or that figure there. As long as it was not finished, there was life. And yet, there is no more correct decision than to finish it, just as there is no other correct decision than to finish national processes or good ideas. The only thing that happens is that this good news, because it will be magnificent news that the temple is finished, in the end will mean that we will hardly know how to do anything better. I think this is what happens to me. That the works promised, and that promises must be kept. But that there is nothing sadder than running out of promises.