Construction of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona began in 1882 under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, but Antoni Gaudí took over the project the following year and transformed it into his unique Modernist vision. Gaudí devoted the last years of his life to the project, and construction continued after his death according to his models. The basilica is scheduled for completion in 2026, nearly 150 years after construction began.

The Sagrada Familia has been a subject of poetry in Catalan and Spanish since the Modernist period, with poets like Joan Maragall celebrating Gaudí's vision as a symbol of Catalan creativity and spiritual aspiration. In English-language poetry, the basilica's unfinished state and Gaudí's unique architectural language have inspired meditations on the relationship between art, faith, and time, with poets using the building as a metaphor for the long arc of human creativity and the ongoing search for the divine.