Barcelona | Sagrada familia

I watch workers sand a large curved piece that will fit in the top of a pillar far above our heads and be part of a branch of what I call the sycamore pillars. Gaudí wanted the pillars holding up the church's roof to feel like an organic forest. It was both an artistic breakthrough and an engineering feat. At a time when there were no computers to calculate stress loads, Gaudí found a way to create vaulted ceilings without the flying buttresses associated with Gothic cathedrals. "The tree near my workshop is my master," Gaudí said.

The tall trunks of the towers change colors in places since Gaudí effectively­ used different stones in various sections, depending on the weight-bearing abilities of the rock type. It creates both an aesthetic resemblance to the light brown patches on ivory sycamore trunks and a practical solution. Near the top, the pillars literally branch out to support more ceiling. They are adorned with broken golden ceramics, perhaps a celestial view of fall leaves. It is a signature Gaudí decoration to use broken tiles put back together with spaces in between, harking back to when he recycled available materials in his earlier works, which can be seen throughout Barcelona.

TO GET THE LOFTIEST overview of the Sagrada Familia and its inspiring 360-degree views of Barcelona, I decide to head to the highest point nonworkers are allowed: the towers.

When the first tower was completed in 1925, Gaudí enjoyed "how that spear joins heaven and earth." Accounts say he intended 18 towers of varying heights: 12 bell towers for the 12 apostles; four for the evangelists; one to rise over a dome devoted to Mary; and ultimately, the central spire dedicated to Jesus, intended as the tallest religious tower in the world, at 558 feet.