You Can Soon Build the Sagrada Família Out of 12,060 Legos. Here’s Why the Famed Basilica Is an Architectural Marvel

Pioneering architect Antoni Gaudí’s plans for the basilica were ambitious and complex, drawing on creative geometric forms and ancient inspiration, which is one reason why it remains unfinished after 144 years

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

June 10, 2026 1:44 p.m.

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Every year, millions of visitors flock to the Sagrada Família, the elaborate Catholic church in Barcelona designed by architect Antoni Gaudí. Soon, fans of the famed basilica will be able to build a miniature—but still pretty darn big—version.

Danish toymaker Lego is launching a new 12,060-piece set of a 3D model of the landmark. The kit, which will be released in November, incorporates many of the church’s most iconic architectural features, including the towers, the stained-glass windows, the apse, the crypt, the grand naves, the Western sacristy and the Nativity, Passion and Glory façades. Additionally, the instructions for building the two-foot-tall model follow the actual construction sequence for the basilica.

Lego’s leaders felt an “immense responsibility” to do justice to “one of the most ambitious architectural works in the world,” Rok Žgalin Kobe, a designer for the company, says in a statement.

“Our goal was to honour Gaudí’s vision with the utmost respect, capturing the rhythm of the basilica’s construction, its extraordinary complexity and ambition, and translating that into an immersive building experience,” he adds.

Lego is introducing the new set in honor of the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death. Though Sagrada Família is considered Gaudí’s most iconic work, he died when it was still just a quarter of the way finished.

The church has now been under construction for 144 years and it still isn’t complete—though it’s getting closer. Earlier this year, crews installed a large white cross on the basilica’s tall, central tower. And on June 10, Pope Leo XIV is holding a special mass to inaugurate the church. Work is expected to continue on the building’s interior for years, however.

Why has it taken so long to complete the Sagrada Família? Gaudí’s death in June 1926 provided an initial hurdle. And, roughly a decade later, many of his original plans, models and photographs were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, requiring the construction team to largely recreate Gaudí’s vision from memory. Progress has also been slow because the project is being funded entirely by donations and ticket sales.

Additionally, Gaudí’s plans for the basilica were ambitious and complex. He dreamed of building the tallest church in the world, a 566-foot behemoth topped with towers that stretched high into the sky. While doing so, he also hoped to “correct all the errors of the previous styles of architecture,” Gijs van Hensbergen, an art historian and Gaudí biographer, tells BBC News’ Martha Henriques.

His design takes inspiration from classical Greek architecture, as well as Byzantine and Gothic churches and cathedrals. But, importantly, Gaudí tweaked these styles and used geometry to develop a new style of architecture featuring never-before-seen shapes.

Gaudí “perpetually reinterpreted what came before,” Jordan Rogove, co-founder and partner of DXA Studio, tells Architectural Digest’s Michael Y. Park. “He never believed in a purity of style or imitation, rather consulting what came before as a source of inspiration. His interests in using nature and an extraordinary understanding of structural engineering took his approach in an entirely new direction.”

For example, Gaudí did not want to use flying buttresses, the exterior masonry structures commonly used to reinforce Gothic cathedrals, for the Sagrada Família. Instead, he searched the world for inspiration—and found it in the historic Arch of Taq-i Kisra. Built in what is now Iraq between the third and sixth centuries C.E., it’s a large, impressive example of a “catenary arch,” a rainbow-shaped structure that stands under its own compressive forces. Gaudí realized he could riff on the catenary arch to support the Sagrada Família’s heavy towers and nave columns.

Gaudí also took a unique approach to designing his buildings. As Lauren David writes for Smithsonian magazine, he would “develop an upside-down physical mock-up of a structure and hang weights from a rope… to determine the curvature of the arches needed to support the building.”

Additionally, Gaudí was deeply inspired by nature, opting for organic forms rather than straight lines and sharp angles. He installed branching tree-like columns inside the nave to support the roof and towers above while keeping the interior light and open. The columns spread to create “the canopy of a stone forest,” simultaneously “distributing load with mathematical precision while producing a space that feels organic, almost breathing,” writes Thomas Schielke for ArchDaily.

The result of all of Gaudí’s innovative thinking is a church that looks unlike any other in history, a “rare architectural marvel that really is one of a kind,” as Park writes for Architectural Digest.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.