The sky of Barcelona will gain a new star in the Sagrada Família

Antoni Gaudí imagined that the Sagrada Família would be crowned by a luminous star. Many years later, this wish will come true. The basilica will illuminate the city's sky with a new star starting Wednesday, December 8, the day of the Immaculate Conception. The inauguration will be accompanied by a full program of cultural and religious activities, opening the temple for the first time to a civic celebration in the morning, led by popular culture colles, with the participation of the Sant Jordi cobla, sardanas, and gegants. In the afternoon, the cardinal and archbishop of Barcelona, Juan José Omella, will officiate a mass and bless the new tower before lighting it.

For Omella, the inauguration of this new Barcelona star will bring light to this 2021, after a long dark period. "It will be a historic event that will change the city's profile," he remarks. It will be because this star will crown the tallest tower in the Sagrada Família, at a height of 138 meters from its base, awaiting the completion of the one for Jesus Christ, which will be 172 meters. Likewise, it will mean that half of the towers that will make up the basilica are finished. In fact, the tower of the Virgin Mary, with a cost of 1.5 million euros, is the only one that has been completed in the last 44 years.

The new symbol of the Sagrada Família, which has absorbed all the efforts of the construction board during this 2021, has the shape of a stellated dodecahedron. From a central core formed by pentagonal faces, the 12 pyramids that make up the arms of the star emerge. Each point measures 2.9 meters and the total diameter of the star is 7.5 meters. Made of glass and steel, it weighs 5.5 tons. The glass has been designed with textures to play with light and generate reflections. The star will appear to be suspended in the sky, but will rest on three concrete and trencadís supports that emerge from the tower of the Virgin Mary, where it will be placed on Monday, November 29.

Situated above the apse of the temple, the star will also have to serve to illuminate the altar with the light that will filter through the 800 windows that make up the tower. If during the day it will let the sun's rays pass through, LED spotlights at each of the bases of its arms will illuminate the sky at night. Likewise, it has been designed to withstand bad weather. It is even prepared to resist the impact of a 100-kilo body. It still has to be fully defined, but it is expected that the new tower can be visited from its base, taking into account that it is empty inside.

On December 8, the star will be lit, but previously the Virgin Mary tower will have been illuminated in a participatory manner. A week before, starting on Wednesday, December 1, the websites of the Sagrada Família and the Archbishopric of Barcelona will allow a point of light to be symbolically lit digitally, which will later translate into the actual illumination of the tower. From December 1 to 4, it will be possible to contribute telematically to light the base of the tower, which will actually do so on Saturday, December 4, while from the 5th to the 6th, the same can be done with the upper part, which will be definitively illuminated on Monday, December 6.

The temple is recovering visitors

The program of activities for the inauguration of the Virgin Mary tower comes at a time of recovery of tourist activity in the Sagrada Família, although it is still far from pre-pandemic figures, according to the general director of the construction board, Xavier Martínez. The month of October is going very well, as demonstrated by the hustle and bustle inside the basilica this Monday. Even more visitors are being registered than in August, but they only represent 40% of those in October 2019.

That is why the temple maintains the forecast of not overcoming this slump until the end of 2023 or early 2024. Consequently, there is still no new completion date for the basilica. Before the coronavirus crisis, it had been set for 2026, but the pandemic rendered it obsolete with the fall in income.

During the first quarter of 2022, the construction of Lucas's tower will be finalized and two strips will be placed on that of Jesus Christ, which are already built. If the tourism recovery is maintained during the first six months of next year, a new completion date for the works in the Sagrada Família will be set again.