Sagrada Familia to reopen for locals before tourists return to Barcelona

For the Sagrada Família, the most crowded tourist site in Barcelona with 4.5 million visits per year, the uncertainty over when will tourists return to the city has provided a unique opportunity to reopen its doors for a group that normally accounts for a tiny fraction of its visitors: locals.

Closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, the landmark temple by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí has set a 3-phase plan to let visitors in again. 

Health workers and police officers will be the first ones to enter, with free visits during the first two weekends of July. 

From July 18 until the end of the year, the temple will welcome Barcelona residents on weekend afternoons, with tickets available for free from next Tuesday.

The third phase envisions the so-called new normality when national and international tourists will return to the city and, consequently, to the Sagrada Família. The date remains up in the air.

The uncertainty over what will the post-pandemic scenario be like is also casting doubts on the long-awaited completion date of the temple, currently set for 2026.

Under construction since 1882, and still unfinished when Gaudí died in 1927, the repeated delays in the temple’s due date have become a running joke among Catalans. With only 25% of the project remaining, Covid-19 dealt an unexpected blow to the construction calendar.