Place to see: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

About this place:

This Roman Catholic cathedral in Barcelona is possibly the world's longest-running architectural construction project: It was under construction for the entirety of the 20th century, and has yet to be completed.

The cathedral, a Barcelona must-see, is rich in symbolism. The 18 towers represent the 12 apostles, the 4 evangelists, as well as Mary and Jesus. The Central Nave resembles a forest and is the embodiment of Gaudi’s admiration of nature. The Nativity Façade faces east to the rising sun and is dedicated to the birth of Jesus. The passion façade conveys the somberness of the cruxification of Jesus through sharp geometrical shapes and the six columns which resemble bones.

Gaudi devoted the last 43 years of his life to his Sagrada Familia and in 1926 he died before he could see its completion. He was constantly changing his mind and the plans for the structure, but in 1938, at the height of Francos’ invasion of Barcelona, anarchists destroyed the last recorded copy of his blueprints. This has made it very difficult to complete the cathedral in the manner that Gaudi would have wished.