If there are more tourists in Barcelona, ??also in the Sagrada Família. The temple has fully recovered the figures of 2019 and expects to close the year with 4.5 million tickets sold, which will exceed one hundred million euros in income. The economic slack has allowed investment in works to double, reaching 50 million during 2023, and a new initiative: the creation of a Social Action fund endowed with 2.3 million euros, the bases of which will be published in the coming days.
As for the works, the next objective is close. On November 12, it is planned to inaugurate the two remaining towers of the Evangelists: that of John and Matthew, 135 meters high, which will complete the set of the four central towers that surround the tower of Jesus, the tallest. , which now measures 131 meters and is expected to be crowned in 2026, at 172 meters.
In this final stage of the construction of the Sagrada Família, there are many open fronts. At the tower level, the most visible and eye-catching works, the restoration and replacement work on two of the towers on the Naixement façade has been completed and has begun on the other two.
The next milestone will be the completion of the tower of Jesus, which involves the completion of the transept room, 66 meters high, from where you can access by elevator to the spectacular cross that will crown the structure. “The objective is to have a full-scale prototype next year to be able to carry out the tests,” explained this morning the architect director of the work, Jordi Faulí.
The Construction Board does not venture for now to give a date for the completion of the works. If before the pandemic the goal was to finish in 2026, the calendar now remains open. “Until 2024 we will not be in a position to finalize the end,” Faulí insisted yesterday. What has become clear is that the construction Board has not renounced the great staircase that Gaudí designed on the façade of the Glòria.
“As for the urban planning issue, in relation to the City Council, we are the same as in February of last year; we are at their disposal, when they call us, we will gladly go,” stated the general director of the Construction Board, Xavier Martínez. Later, late in the morning and during an interview on Radio Estel, Martínez explained that Laia Bonet had invited him “to sit down and talk” about the façade.
The economic slack and in this context of historic income, the Board of Trustees of the Construction Board has promoted the creation of a Social Action Fund, which this year will be endowed with 2.3 million euros. “Our results are positive, there are many people who are having a hard time and it is time to recover one of the founding pillars of this time, charity,” maintains Xavier Martínez.
The first call, the rules of which will be published in the coming days on the temple’s website, will be endowed with 2.3 million euros, “an amount that we will review every year with the aim of always increasing it,” Martínez added. The objective will be to finance social initiatives and projects promoted by non-profit entities that operate within the Archdiocese of Barcelona.
