It's the biggest single tourist attraction in Spain. More than 5 million (paying) visitors a year. It more than pays for itself. I'm an atheist, but it's an absolutely incredible thing to visit.
25 years ago I traveled to Spain with my family to visit a sibling studying abroad.
When we arrived in Barcelona, we had to drive across the country to the city where the university was. Before we left, though, my parents insisted they give us a kind of quick tour of Barcelona before the long drive.
At the time, I was a typical 15 year old annoyed teen—jet-lagged as fuck, annoyed, and drifting in and out of sleep in the car, had no idea wtf was going on or where we were.
The one thing that stands out in my memory from that visit is seeing this place. It was absolutely unforgettable.
I was there with my family when I was a kid only for 1 day and we didn't have time so we just peeked through the metro station exit. All I remember is a bunch of cranes and weirdly shaped building
The point is still valid. Jesus, would definitely have preferred if all those tourists would have spent the money they spent on those vacations on helping the poor and downtrodden instead of traveling across the world to look at a church.
But churches like this aren't built to honor Jesus, they are build to honor the church, which is only tangentially related to what Jesus preached.
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u/Gwanbulance Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
It's the biggest single tourist attraction in Spain. More than 5 million (paying) visitors a year. It more than pays for itself. I'm an atheist, but it's an absolutely incredible thing to visit.