Massive star placed atop tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia

Madrid, Dec. 9 (BUS): A giant luminous star was inaugurated in the second tallest tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia.

In front of thousands of demonstrators in the streets surrounding the church, Cardinal and Archbishop of Barcelona Joan Josep Omela blessed the “Star of Bethlehem” on Wednesday evening after mass was read.

Then, a bright light shone inside the 12-point star made of steel and glass, which weighs 5.5 tons and measures 7.5 meters from point to point, just before 8 p.m. (19:00 GMT) at a height of 138 metres, according to the agency. German Press (dpa).

Cardinal Omela said at the opening ceremony that the architect Antoni Gaudí was watching the ceremony, “it certainly moved deep from the sky.”

Run over by a tram in 1926, the Catalan architect designed the Roman Catholic cathedral. However, the building, which was started in 1882, has not yet been completed.

According to the latest estimates, the cathedral will be ready by 2030 at the earliest.

The star on the tower, which cost about 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, will capture and reflect sunlight during the day.

In the evening, the floodlights will illuminate the steel and glass structure from the inside – changing Barcelona’s skyline “forever and ever” and helping to end the “enormous darkness of the epidemic,” Omela explained.

Located north of the Spanish capital’s old town, the church was consecrated as a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and is the landmark of Barcelona and, along with the Alhambra in Granada, is the most visited place in Spain. Before the epidemic, more than 4.5 million visitors were counted annually.

HF