I have had similar feelings about Sagrada Familia (which I saw from the outside but could not visit inside) as I have for the Strasbourg Cathedral.
Similar approach, different era end hence execution and style. During my stay in Barcelona I could not help but draw comparisons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_Cathedral
> The construction of the cathedral, which had started in the year 1015 and had been relaunched in 1190, was finished in 1439
"finished" is arguable because it still misses one spire ;) but that's now part of its character.
> Standing in the centre of the Place de la Cathédrale, at 142 metres (466 feet), Strasbourg Cathedral was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874 (227 years) [..] Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the tallest extant structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.
From clair-obscur lighting inside to outside horror vacui vs a clean and geometric interior, it is a cathedral of contrast, whose architecture is not just a thing in itself but also extends to the area it is sat in, e.g the streets around and the plaza channel the "devil's wind", a nearly constant airflow running around the exterior that symbolically cannot enter the cathedral, which gives an immediate impression of calm as you enter.
It also houses since 1352 an astronomical clock reminiscent of the Antikhytera mechanism, and notable for having a Copernician (heliocentric) orrery since 1547; the confluence of science and clergy is yet another contrast.
Surrounding - and generally in the whole city - buildings are tall-ish but much less than Barcelona, making the Strasbourg Cathedral absolutely towering, whether you stand in front of it or from dozens of miles away.