[motorest]

> One hundred and fifty years in the making, and still unfinished.

The explanation behind this is usually the Spanish civil war, and then it's how the construction is funded by donations. The latter brings in a cynical twist, because the argument to keep the money flowing in ends the moment the cathedral is deemed finished. So you have a perverse incentive to stall the construction because once it's done then the whole economy around it will end as well.

Taking so long to finish it is not the badge of honor that's depicted. The project is just as complex as when it was when Gaudi died.

[ricardobeat]

Gaudi himself initially expected it would take 700 years to build. You’re underestimating the scale of it.

[stevoski]

Maintaining a building like La Sagrada Familia is a very expensive undertaking.

There’s no “done, so we don’t need money any more”

[throw0101a]

> There’s no “done, so we don’t need money any more”

Supposedly this happened to Paris' Notre Dame for many years until Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre-Dame which re-ignited it in the general public's imagination.

* http://archive.is/https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/4/15/1831...

* https://casdinteret.com/2020/05/how-victor-hugo-saved-notre-...