Sacred Size

Christian humility and quasi-British efficiency have combined potently in Barcelona, where the brown Lego magnum opus of the Venerable Antoni Gaudí is still under construction after a hundred and forty-three years. The tallest tower of the minor basilica of Sagrada Familia has just been made slightly taller, thereby making it taller than the previous tallest church in the world. The building, which is expected to take another decade or so to finish, has modestly refrained from claiming the coveted ecclesiastical title, despite having no other architectural or spiritual merits that the Associated Press considered worthy of mention.