Temple de la Sagrada Família
(Temple of the Sacred Family)

I am not a Christian, but I am a 'church goer', who likes visiting cathedrals, temples, churches, chapels and whatever you name it during his trips. I think I like religious art sometimes.
It was a beautiful day on 25th December 2006. I thought visiting a church would be an extraordinary start of my Christmas day in 2006, as I have never done this before. It turned out I was really impressed by this project: the concept of building this church and Antoni Gaudí’s devotion to his project.
Although the building of the Church of the Holy Family commenced in 1882, up to date only 75% of its construction work has been done. Why has it taken so long and is still far from completion? Partly because work was delayed by political conflicts, such as Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), but mainly because this temple was built under the concept of a temple of atonement and thus its financial source only came from private donations and alms. With the money from the 1992 summer Olympic game, donations from the faithful, and income from admission fee, the project has picked up its pace and hopefully will be completed by 2030.
One year after launching this church, Antoni Gaudí was appointed Project Director. He dedicated on design and construction of this great building over 40 years until he died in 1926. Since then architects of the project have followed his blueprint continuing the work to this date. As Gaudí said to himself, the Temple de la Sagrada Familia is the representative work of his life.