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Comment by KingOfCoders | Hacker News Reader

I've studied in a city with the tallest (christian) church tower (Ulm [0]). I regularily went up the tower, there was a place where you could sit and read and contemplate. I loved it. And because there were a lot of steps, not too many people went there.

The most impressive inside of a church to me was Sagrada Família which looks like being in a forrest (or in some Elven structure from Tolkien).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_Minster / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_structures_bui...

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I thought the Sagrada Familia looked better when it was unfinished. Now it's painted, it looks like something halfway between a particularly elaborate Christmas cake and a Terry Pratchett cover from the 1990s.

It looks like it’s been carved out of bone

I was there 25 years ago, went up one of the towers. Was a magical place even though, or perhaps because, it was very much unfinished.

Surely it still isn't finished? I thought it was expected to be finished in 2026. Do you have any urls showing the current state?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

There seems to have been a new impetus to the construction in the last ten or so years. No idea of the schedule though. I guess I should have said "more unfinished".

I was admiring the Sagrada Familia one day about ten years ago, and was astonished when a chap in a high-vis vest walked past me and started chipping away modifying some stonework with a chisel. He didn't look overly enthused, just getting on with his job.

The Sagrada Familia is a marvel, and deserves to be finished, but it was somehow magical to be there while it was (long-windedly) being built, worked on by skilled artisans probably not too different from someone working on the cathedral in my own home town in the 1090s.

> my own home town in the 1090s.

There are quite a few to choose from: Ely, Durham, Canterbury, Winchester, etc., and of course others around Europe.

When was that? I distinctly remember the Ulm cathedral tower stairs in late 1970s to have a dangerous spot with missing railings on either side of narrow and worn brick stairs running along a pane-less window, truly for believers only, and outright unthinkable by today's standards for public trespassing areas. Going all the way to the top of eg Freiburg Münschter also has a thrill to it for those scared of height.

It was in the 90s and I can't remember such spots, but the last 20m (?) are very narrow and steep and not a lot of light.

...while the outside resembles a termite mound:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/83175924339644023/

(hat tip: Daniel Dennett)

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