Sagrada Familia hosts story awards on 20 November
Published on 10/24/2026 at 15:37 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSGaudĂ year and visitor details
- The awards ceremony is scheduled for 20 November 2026 at the Cloister of Our Lady Mercy.
- The competition welcomed 60 adult participants writing in Catalan across different literary genres.
- Antoni GaudĂ took over the project in 1883 after construction began in 1882.
- The Nativity façade and crypt joined the UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2005.
Sagrada Familia and its 100 years, 100 stories competition will reach a public milestone in Barcelona on 20 November 2026, when the awards ceremony is scheduled at the Cloister of Our Lady Mercy. The competition was launched for adults aged 18 and over, with entries in Catalan and across different literary genres.
Story awards bring GaudĂ year to the cloister
The awards ceremony will begin at 6.30pm on 20 November 2026, according to the basilica’s organiser, the FundaciĂł Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada FamĂlia. The competition is limited to 60 participants, and its registration period has ended.
Each participant chooses one of four quotations attributed to Antoni GaudĂ as the starting point for an original story. The submitted work may develop a theme, atmosphere, conflict or character from that starting point, rather than reproducing the quotation literally. The competition programme places the ceremony in the Cloister of Our Lady Mercy and includes a featured reading of the winning story.
New writing meets a building shaped by 1883
The literary programme is tied to a basilica whose design changed direction when GaudĂ took over the project in 1883. The cornerstone had been laid in 1882 under Francisco de Paula del Villar, whose neo-Gothic proposal was then transformed by GaudĂ into the far more ambitious temple seen in Barcelona today.
The connection between the competition and the building is therefore more than a venue detail. The four creative prompts draw on GaudĂ’s ideas about nature, technique, originality and light, while the ceremony takes place beside a project that has continued through several generations. The operator’s history of the temple records the continuing construction and the architectural milestones behind the programme.
The Nativity façade and crypt were added to the UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2005. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the building for religious worship and designated it a minor basilica. In 2026, the exterior of the Tower of Jesus Christ was completed, and Pope Leo XIV blessed it on 10 June.
The cloister setting connects stories with living heritage
The Cloister of Our Lady Mercy gives the awards a setting within the basilica complex rather than in a separate literary venue. It places the presentation close to the religious and architectural spaces that have developed around GaudĂ’s original project, including the cloisters recorded in the building’s official chronology.
The temple’s continuing construction also gives the event a contemporary context. Its programme does not present the basilica as a finished historical object: it uses writing, readings and the Catalan language to connect an active cultural institution with the centenary year of GaudĂ’s death.
Visiting Sagrada Familia: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The 100 years, 100 stories awards ceremony is scheduled for 20 November 2026 at 6.30pm in the Cloister of Our Lady Mercy.
- The competition’s registration period has ended, and the organiser lists a maximum of 60 participants; the ceremony date and venue remain the confirmed visitor information.
- Sagrada Familia is in Barcelona’s Eixample district at Carrer Mallorca, 401. The operator lists Sagrada Familia station on metro lines L2 and L5 as a transport reference.
- The building combines a basilica, crypt, façades, towers and cloisters, while construction continues on the wider project begun in 1882.
- The Nativity façade and crypt form part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Works of Antoni GaudĂ, added in 2005.
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Frequently asked questions about Sagrada Familia
When does 100 years, 100 stories take place at Sagrada Familia?
The awards ceremony is scheduled for 20 November 2026 at 6.30pm in the Cloister of Our Lady Mercy.
What is Sagrada Familia?
It is a minor basilica in Barcelona designed chiefly by Antoni GaudĂ after he took over the project in 1883. Construction began in 1882 and continues today.
Where is Sagrada Familia and how do you get there?
The basilica is at Carrer Mallorca, 401, in Barcelona’s Eixample district. The operator lists Sagrada Familia station on metro lines L2 and L5.
