Ulm loses the world's tallest church tower to Barcelona's Sagrada Família!

Ulm loses the world's tallest church tower to Barcelona's Sagrada Família!

The Ulm Minster, which has held the title of tallest church tower in the world for over 130 years, is facing a dramatic height duel with the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. How Deutschlandfunk culture reported, the Spanish basilica is expected to increase its height by a good ten meters next summer with an accessible glass cross and thus tower over the current 162 meter high tower in Ulm. The background is the upcoming 100th anniversary of the death of the famous architect Antoni Gaudí in 2026, by which time the project is scheduled to be completed.

The costs of growing glass are in the low double-digit million range, and unusually the glass structure is manufactured by a company from Gundelfingen on the Danube, only 36 kilometers as the crow flies from Ulm. Jürgen Wax, the managing director of Josef Gartner GmbH, which has already been responsible for impressive buildings such as the Elbphilharmonie, is calm: “We take it with a certain wink and humor.” Stuttgart News reported.

A spectacular project

The glass cross that will be added to the Sagrada Família presents an engineering challenge: it will be hollow and contain a spiral staircase, a structure that has never been built before. The installation, at a height of around 150 meters, is expected to take from June to August 2025. Once completed, the Sagrada Família with its new glass cross is expected to officially tower over Ulm Minster, marking a striking change in the history of tallest church towers.