Sagrada Família

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, or simply Sagrada Família, is a Catholic church that was under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, it is the tallest church in the world. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a basilica. Parts of the Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and Crypt) were declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, under "Works of Antoni Gaudí". On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.