Barcelona plans to create a large public square to ease congestion in front of its top tourist attraction, the Sagrada Familia.
For years, locals have complained of overcrowding as over 4.7 million annual visitors partake in TikTok trends and stop for selfies at the landmark Catholic church.
Tourists often clog the Catalan city’s roads and pavements while trying to capture the perfect picture in front of Antoni Gaudi’s famously unfinished basilica.
City authorities have now announced plans for a 6,200-square-metre public square to redirect tourist traffic and address resident concerns.
The new square, an “anteroom to the temple”, will be located on Marina Street between Mallorca and Provença Streets, Gaudí Square and the Nativity Facade of the Sagrada Familia.
This will provide a designated space for holidaymakers to gather and snap selfies without causing congestion on the roads or walkways used by residents.
With a budget of €2.7m (£2.3m), work on the project is expected to begin in September and take around eight and a half months to complete – finishing around the centenary of the architect Antoni Gaudí’s death.
Barcelona City Council said “this new project helps to resolve a space where it is difficult to reconcile uses between visitors to the temple and the neighbourhood”.
The project is inspired by Rubió i Tudurí’s 1977 proposal for Gaudí’s square.
It aims to create a “versatile space that serves as an extension of the existing park, a space for popular gatherings and anteroom to the temple”.
A large perimeter bench will act as a boundary between the new square and the existing Plaça Gaudí square.
The square on Marina Street is the first action taken to manage tourist crowds in the Sagrada Familia area.
As part of the Sagrada Familia High-Flux Area (EGA) Action Plan, there will be 37 new measures to expand public space, regulate visitor flows and recover spaces for neighbourhood activities.
The city council has invested €15.5m (£13.3m) to dilute the impact of tourism by 2027.
It comes after a summer of conflict between locals and tourists last year.
In July, thousands of Barcelona residents squirted diners in tourist areas with water during a protest against mass tourism.
The Spanish locals chanted “tourists go home” with placards that read “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism” in the demonstration against overtourism.
Video footage showed holidaymakers dining outside popular squares in the city, doused with water pistols, and cordoned off using hazard tape by a crowd of almost 3,000.
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