Sagrada Família

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Rising over Barcelona, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family was begun in 1882 and taken over a year later by Antoni Gaudí, who devoted more than forty years of his life to it, declaring that his client was in no hurry, for he was building for God; the architect rests in its crypt. Funded from the beginning by the alms of the faithful, its facades tell the Nativity, the Passion and the Glory of Christ in stone that seems to grow like a living forest. Benedict XVI consecrated it and raised it to a minor basilica on 7 November 2010, and though still under construction after more than 140 years, it is already one of the most visited churches on earth, a catechism written against the sky.