Barcelona residents face eviction as Sagrada Familia Basilica completion approaches

A long queue of tourists snakes around the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece which has unwittingly become a byword for unfinished business.

It is an average morning outside of Spain’s most popular attraction. But behind the basilica’s breath-taking spires all is not well.

Plans to build an enormous stairway leading up to the temple’s unfinished main entrance would entail the demolition of three city blocks, forcing the exit of about 1,000 families and businesses next door.

If these plans were realised it would involve demolishing blocks in neighbouring Calle Mallorca, which are already perilously close to the basilica.

The foundation which controls the Sagrada Familia appears set to go ahead with the plans despite opposition from residents’ associations. The final decision remains with Barcelona city council.

Salvador Barroso, a lawyer and representative of the Association for those Affected by the Sagrada Familia, a local protest group, is taking legal action to halt the proposed stairway.

Barroso claims the stairway was never in Gaudí’s original plans and it was dreamed up by disciples of the architect after his untimely death in 1926 when he was hit by a tram. The original plans were destroyed by anarchists at the outbreak of the Spanish civil war.

“This was not the work of Gaudí but it is going to affect the lives of about 3,000 people who live near the basilica. That means people like me who have lived next to the place for over 30 years or more,” Barroso told Euronews Culture. 

“This is a sword but no-one knows where it is going to fall. In cases of expropriation, the only one who can make the decision is the local council. They should do so quickly and not look the other way.”

Barcelona city council has so far