“Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn't resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union”. – Yahoo News. Photo: Hungary, MAV 424 Steam Train. (Photo by Rebecca Bathory)

For more than a century, the Barcelona skyline has been graced (or marred, depending on who’s talking) by the spectacle of the Basilica designed by Anton Gaudi, first started in 1882. If you want to know what it’ll look like when finished, don’t fret — 2026 is right around the corner. Or you can watch this video, released last week on YouTube by Basílica de la Sagrada Família and titled simply “2026 We Build Tomorrow,” a 3-D artists’ rendering of the building stages through completion.
(If 144 years sounds like a long time to finish a cathedral, keep in mind that there were decades that they didn’t work on it — and that Notre Dame de Paris took 182 years, although the 13th century Parisians didn’t have diesel-powered industrial cranes.) Now, if only the video could show us what the admission and hours will be in 2026 (and how to avoid the inevitable long lines).

Roland Miller is on a mission to document the deserted sites of America’s space race. He has photographed launch pads, bunkhouses and research facilities across the country, some of which no longer exist or are closed to the public on secure military bases. His book, “Abandoned in Place”, is published by the University of New Mexico Press in March. Here: Launch Pad and Gantry with Hermes A-1 Rocket – V2 Launch Complex 33, White Sands missile range, New Mexico in 2006. (Photo by Roland Miller)

These adorable rat portraits were taken by a committed photographer who’s made it her mission to remove the stigma attached to the creatures. Diane Ozdamar’s vibrant images feature rodents cutely cuddling flowers, eating fruit, playing with bubbles, and lovingly interacting with each other. The 32-year-old photographer, who lives in Montreal, Canada, shot her «Fancy Rats» series over a number of years. (Photo by Diane Ozdamar/Caters News)

The antennas of the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, also known as ALMA, are set against the splendor of the Milky Way in this picture by Babak Tafreshi. Construction of the full ALMA array is due to be completed in Chile's Atacama Desert in 2013, but the facility is already making scientific observations with a partial array of antennas. (Photo by ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN)

Professional adventurer Alison Teal has become the first woman to paddle out into lava during a volcanic eruption into the sea. Amazing shots of the extreme surf session shows the daredevil riding her pink surfboard up to the base of Kilauea Volcano. Photographer Perrin James snapped the brave explorer within feet of the lava as it flows into the ocean. Its the first the volcano in the Big Island of Hawaii has erupted since 2011. Here: Alison Teal paddles out to Kilauea volcano in Hawaii as it eruopts into the ocean. (Photo by Perrin James/Caters News)

These pictures reveal the crumbling ruins of the famed Grand Orient Express, now hollowed-out and almost reduced to rubble. There are only a couple of the trains, launched in 1883, left in the world. This example stands dormant in Belgium, untouched from its last voyage in the winter of 2009. Rusty ceilings, moth-eaten seats and tattered floors capture its level of decay. A Rotterdam-based urban photographer Brian Romeijn managed to snap these pictures while exploring the area. (Photo by Brian Romeijn/IMP Features)

Activists protest the Shell Oil Company's drilling rig Polar Pioneer which is parked at Terminal 5 at the Port of Seattle, Washington May 16, 2015. Hundreds of activists in kayaks and small boats fanned out on a Seattle bay on Saturday to protest plans by Royal Dutch Shell to resume oil exploration in the Arctic and keep two of its drilling rigs stored in the city's port. (Photo by Jason Redmond/Reuters)