The Sagrada Familia’s controversial plan to build a stairway, displacing 1,000 families and businesses, is facing fierce opposition from locals and legal challenges.
The world’s most famous unfinished building will go ahead with a plan to build a stairway despite protests from residents and businesses.
Work on other sculptures and decorations, as well as the stairway leading to what would be the main entrance, is expected to continue until at least 2035.
The stairway plans have provoked opposition from locals because if the work is carried out, it would mean the demolition of blocks of housing and offices next to the existing building and the eviction of about 1,000 families and businesses.
Esteve Camps, the president of the organisation in charge of the original master plan of Gaudí, said architects behind the works on the Sagrada Familia were in talks with Barcelona council and residents over the stairway plans.
“We are awaiting the decision of the council about whether we will go ahead with this plan. Without that, we cannot do anything. The Sagrada Familia will not back down on this plan,” Camps told Euronews Culture.
However, he did concede that the plans could be modified.
“If the stairway is wider then it will affect more residents. It is a matter of negotiation. The dimensions could be reduced. The council knows our necessities and we await their decision,” he added.
Earlier, Camps told a press conference on Thursday inside the basilica that last month the Sagrada Familia asked Barcelona city council for permission to put up scaffolding to build the Gloria façade which is intended to be the main entrance to the basilica.
He said the schedule to complete all the works would take another decade to complete without counting “more than 100 sculptures” which will adorn the façade of the Gloria.
Camps said if construction went to plan, by 2026 it could complete the 172.5-metre central tower dedicated to Jesus Christ, making the Sagrada Familia Barcelona’s tallest building.
This would mark the centenary of the death of the Sagrada Familia’s creator, Antoní Gaudí.
Salvador Barroso, a lawyer and representative of the Association for those Affected by the Sagrada Familia, a local protest group, is taking legal action to halt the proposed stairway.
Barroso claims the stairway was never in Gaudí’s original plans and it was dreamed up by disciples of the architect after his untimely death.
The original plans were destroyed by anarchists at the outbreak of the Spanish civil war in 1936 but painstakingly pieced together by successive architects.
“The Sagrada Familia is a private entity and it is the council which will make the final decision. If the decision is not a just and fair one then there is such a thing as judges and courts in this country which are above them both and we will take new legal action to oppose this plan,” he said.
In 2018, the Association of Neighbours revealed a document from the Spanish ministry of culture dated from 1975 which, they claimed, showed that Gaudí had never intended to build the Glora façade.
According to the association, this was added by architects who took up the job of finishing Gaudí’s project. The Sagrada Familia disputed this claim.
Barcelona City Council has not come to a decision over the planned extension, a spokesman told Euronews Culture.
“We are working with representatives of the Sagrada Familia, neighbouring residents and other organisations to find the best solution to finish the works and the necessities of the city,” he said.
Barcelona wants to “guarantee the right to housing and minimize the number of people affected”, he added.
Too many tourists?
The work on the building is funded by the admission receipts costing between €26-€36 from tourists visiting the basilica every year.
Last year, 4.83 million people visited the Sagrada Familia, 2.7% more than the previous year. This is the highest number of visitors ever to the basilica, which is the most visited tourist attraction in Spain.
The largest number of visitors – 87% – come from abroad, with the biggest group by nationality from the United States (18.55% of the total), followed by France (6.53%), Italy (6.53%), South Korea (6.18%) and Britain (4.98%). Spaniards made up 12.67% of visitors.
However, the success of the basilica as a tourist attraction did not please everyone.
Jackie Bridges, a retired professor of nursing from Southampton, Britain, visited the basilica and said it was overcrowded.
“I was shocked at how busy and noisy it was. There were so many tourists there, far more than the last time I came,” she told Euronews Culture.
“People were just talking at normal volume even though this is a place of worship. I’m not religious but the volume of people and the noise they made meant there was not the calm you would expect with a sacred space.”
Dr Bridges added: “I tried to find a moment of contemplation in the space that had been set aside for that but the noise level made that impossible. I am not sure I will come back.”
The income for 2024 was €133.9 million, all from private sources like visitors receipts. In terms of spending, 52% of the budget went on construction, 30% on management of the basilica.
How the rest is spent is not known as the church is not obliged to publish its accounts.
Some 51,696 people attended 66 international masses at the Sagrada Familia last year while 280,670 worshippers went to services at the basilica.
There have been efforts to spread the word about the Sagrada Familia brand with 102 international masses which attracted over 80,000 worshippers.
