The Sagrada Familia received 3.78 million visitors in 2022, triple that of the previous year, still heavily conditioned by the COVID crisis. Of these, 82.5% were international visitors from all over the world, mainly Americans (13.8%), French (11.2%), and Italians (9.4%). The rest (17.5%) are Spanish.
This is detailed in the temple's annual report presented this Wednesday, which confirms the progressive recovery in the number of visitors, the main source of income available to the Construction Board to finish the basilica, still without an official completion date. The temple closed the fiscal year with revenues of 100.7 million euros, of which 53.9 million euros have been allocated to the construction and management of the temple.
The generated surplus is reserved to face possible setbacks, for the construction and work of the coming years, and to assume the commitments signed in 2018 with the Barcelona City Council, reports ACN.
These closing figures for 2022 exceed the forecasts that the Construction Board itself had made last September, when it indicated that the year would close with 3.4 million visitors and a turnover of 87 million euros. With the 100.7 million actually received, the temple almost reached its historical record, set in 2019, before the pandemic, when it received 102 million euros, but with a much higher volume of visitors: 4.7 million people.
The evolution of the works
Throughout the history of the Sagrada Familia, which began in 1882, the Basilica has only stopped its activity and construction during the events of 1936 to 1939 and in March 2020, due to the pandemic, which caused the doors to close and the works to stop. Currently, two of the four towers of the Evangelists have been completed, and the other two and the tower of Jesus are still under construction.
The Assumption chapel is also being built behind the apse of the Basilica and the cloister connecting to the sacristy on Provença Street, and the restoration of the Nativity facade has begun (starting with the Roser cloister and two of the four pinnacles of the towers of the Apostles that form it).
Currently, 89 workers and 1,300 people who regularly collaborate supporting the different areas of the foundation participate in the project.
The Berlin Philharmonic chooses the Sagrada Familia
Among the outstanding cultural events of the next quarter, the concert of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the most relevant symphony orchestras in the world, stands out, which has chosen the temple to perform its annual act. It will be on Monday, May 1 at 11 am, and there will be a preview on Sunday 30 in the afternoon.
Another relevant event will be the concert of the Orfeón Donostiarra, which will sing for the first time in the Sagrada Familia on March 26, an act that will be part of the Holy Week program.
In addition, an exhibition on Gaudí and the Sagrada Familia will open in Tokyo on June 13, thanks to NHK, the Japanese broadcasting corporation, and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. This initiative aims to disseminate the work of the brilliant architect in Asian countries and to publicize the meaning and current state of construction of his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia.
Apart from the diversity of visitors, another of the strong points of 2022 has been the program of cultural, social, and educational activities. Up to 105,018 citizens have enjoyed activities such as the Open Day, concerts, children's activities, student visits, and cultural celebrations. In this last year, the social focus of the basilica has been on refugees from the war in Ukraine.