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See 13 Years Into the Future, to the Completion of Gaudí's Basilica

Although after 131 years, what's your rush?

Building a cathedral has always been a long-term commitment. Construction for Cologne Cathedral started in 1248 and wasn’t completed until 1880. Granted, construction took a break after 225 years, but still. Even with American impatience and know-how, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., took over 80 years.

That being the case, though, the Basílica Sagrada Família in Barcelona has already been under construction for 131 years. Eighty-seven of those have come after the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí. So a little bit of eagerness to see it completed is understandable and forgivable at this point, even if, as Gaudí reportedly said, God's in no rush.

To indulge those impatient souls who can’t wait another decade and some change, the Sagrada Família’s YouTube page has you covered. This week it released a video projecting 13 years into the future—a nice and even century after Gaudí’s death—to a computerized completed cathedral in a sunny computerized Barcelona.

In spite of its musical selection, the video has some nice touches, like how the new construction takes time to stain and weather and match the rest of the building. And of course, the basilica is a stunner of architecture, referencing its Gothic forebears, nature, and the reinforced concrete of the contemporary world.

While we look forward to someday doing intimate sweeps over and in the church with a drone, it's pretty cool to get just that taste of something so long in construction, reaching completion.