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60 free Sagrada Família trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Sagrada Família took 144 years to reach the top of its central tower, outlived its architect by a century and was called both 'spirit symbolised in stone' and 'one of the most hideous buildings in the world'. This quiz covers the whole story: the bookseller who dreamed it up, Villar's abandoned Gothic plan, Gaudí's takeover in 1883, the tram that killed him, the anarchists who burned his models, and the popes who consecrated the basilica in 2010 and blessed the finished Tower of Jesus Christ in 2026. You will also be asked about the Nativity, Passion and Glory façades, the eighteen planned spires and their symbols, the 33-sum magic square, the tree-like columns, the organ, the English quarry that now supplies the stone, the high-speed rail tunnel underneath, and Gaudí's own life from Reus to God's Architect. Easy questions suit anyone who has stood in the queue; the expert tier asks for sculptors, chief architects and vault heights. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the basilica and on Antoni Gaudí, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you like this, try our quizzes on Barcelona and on famous cathedrals.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Sagrada Família stands in which city?
Barcelona
It rises in the Eixample district and has become the city's defining silhouette.
Q 02Who designed the Sagrada Família as we know it, taking over the project in 1883?
Antoni Gaudí
He devoted the rest of his life to it and is buried inside the church.
Q 03Who first led the Sagrada Família, with a Gothic revival plan dropped when he resigned?
Francisco de Paula del Villar
He had completed the apse crypt before quitting on 18 March 1883.
Q 04Construction of the Sagrada Família began on 19 March 1882, the feast day of which saint?
St Joseph
The project was funded by a Spiritual Association of Devotees of that saint.
Q 05Which bookseller founded the association that commissioned the Sagrada Família?
José María Bocabella
He returned from a visit to the Vatican in 1872 wanting to build a church inspired by the basilica at Loreto.
Q 06The church was conceived as an 'expiatory temple', meaning it would be funded how?
Entirely by donations
Today visitor entrance fees pay for the annual construction budget.
Q 07Asked about the slow construction, Gaudí reportedly replied that whom was 'not in a hurry'?
My client
He meant God, and he was right: at his death in 1926 the building was at most a quarter finished.
Q 08Roughly how complete was the Sagrada Família when Gaudí died in 1926?
15 to 25 per cent
His main disciple Domènec Sugrañes i Gras carried on until the Civil War stopped work.
Q 09What was Gaudí struck by on 7 June 1926, in the accident that led to his death?
A tram
Taken for a beggar in his shabby clothes, he received no immediate help.
Q 10Why did the unconscious Gaudí fail to receive immediate aid after his accident?
He was assumed to be a beggar
A civil guard eventually put him in a taxi to the Hospital de Sant Pau.
Q 11Where in the Sagrada Família is Gaudí buried?
The crypt
The bookseller Bocabella, who first dreamed up the church, is also buried there.
Q 12Who broke into the workshop and destroyed many of Gaudí's plans and models in July 1936?
Anarchists
The FAI attack means the present design relies on reconstructed plans and photographs.
Q 13Which pope consecrated the Sagrada Família and proclaimed it a basilica on 7 November 2010?
Benedict XVI
About 6,500 people were inside and 50,000 followed from outside.
Q 21The Nativity façade, the only one built in Gaudí's lifetime, faces which direction?
Northeast
It faces the rising sun as a symbol of Christ's birth, and is dense with sculpted plants and animals.
Q 22The harsh straight lines of the Passion façade are carved to resemble what?
The bones of a skeleton
It faces the setting sun and Gaudí wanted it to strike fear into the onlooker.
Q 23Which sculptor's gaunt, controversial figures decorate the Passion façade?
Josep Maria Subirachs
His team began carving the scenes in 1987, decades after the steeples were finished in 1976.
Q 14Which pope blessed and inaugurated the completed Tower of Jesus Christ on 10 June 2026?
Leo XIV
The date marked exactly one hundred years since Gaudí's death.
Q 15What is the height of the central Tower of Jesus Christ?
172.5 metres
That makes the building the tallest church in the world.
Q 16Which building did the Sagrada Família overtake as the world's tallest church on 30 October 2025?
Ulm Minster
The German church had held the record at 161.5 metres.
Q 17Gaudí designed the central spire to be one metre shorter than what?
Montjuïc hill
He believed a man-made creation should not surpass God's natural work.
Q 18How many spires does Gaudí's original design call for in total?
18
They represent the twelve Apostles, four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
Q 19The spire of Saint Luke is topped by a sculpture of which traditional symbol?
A winged bull
Matthew gets the winged man, John the eagle and Mark the winged lion.
Q 20What was installed on the Virgin Mary tower on 29 November 2021?
A twelve-pointed illuminated crystal star
It measures 23 feet across.
Q 24Which Japanese sculptor reconstructed Nativity façade statues destroyed in the Civil War?
Etsuro Sotoo
His devotion to Gaudí led him to convert to Catholicism.
Q 25Construction of the Glory façade, the future main entrance and largest of the three, began in which year?
2002
It faces south and will depict Death, Final Judgment and Glory, with Hell reserved for those who stray.
Q 26The rows and columns of the magic square on the Passion façade add up to which number?
33
It is a doctored version of Dürer's square from Melencolia I; 33 was Christ's traditional age at death.
Q 27What animals sit at the base of the two columns separating the Nativity façade's porticos?
A turtle and a tortoise
One represents land and one sea, both symbols of unchanging time; chameleons at the sides stand for change.
Q 28The three porticos of the Nativity façade each represent one of which trio?
The theological virtues
They are Hope, Faith and Charity, with the Tree of Life rising over the door of Charity.
Q 29The prayer on the Glory façade's central doors appears in Catalan with one line in how many languages?
50
The door handles form the letters A and G, Gaudí's initials.
Q 30How many doors does Gaudí's design give the Glory façade, representing the sacraments?
Seven
Five doors match the five naves, with a triple central entrance making up the number.