Huge luminous star on the tower of the Sagrada Familia

by time news

A huge luminous star has been inaugurated on the second highest tower of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In front of thousands of people, the Cardinal and Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​Joan Josep Omella, gave the blessing to the “Star of Bethlehem” on Wednesday evening after a Holy Mass. Then the bright light was ignited inside the twelve-pointed star made of steel and glass. The star, which shines at a height of 138 meters, measures 7.5 meters and weighs five and a half tons.

Antoni Gaudí was following the ceremony “certainly deeply moved from heaven,” said Cardinal Omella at the inauguration. The Catalan architect, run over by a tram in 1926, designed the Roman Catholic basilica. The construction that began in 1882 has not yet been completed. According to recent estimates, the basilica will not be finished before 2030.

The star on the tower, which costs around 1.5 million euros and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is intended to catch and reflect sunlight during the day. In the evening, spotlights will illuminate the colossus made of steel and glass from the inside – and thus “forever change the Barcelona skyline” and help end “the great darkness of the pandemic,” as Omella explained.

The church north of the old town of the Spanish metropolis, built in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. Consecrated to the basilica, it is a landmark of Barcelona and, next to the Alhambra in Granada, the most visited attraction in Spain. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 4.5 million visitors were counted annually.

The sacred building combines the styles of neo-Gothic and modern times. The tallest of the total of 18 towers, the Jesusturm, should reach a height of 172.5 meters. This will make the Sagrada Familia the tallest church in the world. The construction takes into account Gaudí’s request that it should not be higher than Barcelona’s local mountain Montjuïc (180 meters).

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