Pau Audouard · Public domain
19th–20th century · 1852–1926
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí · Spain
Catalan architect
The most important architect of Catalan Modernisme, whose work draws on natural forms; most of it is in Barcelona. He took over the Sagrada Família in 1883 and devoted the rest of his life to it, even moving into the church workshop a few months before his death. He is buried in the church's crypt.
Where the story happened
Los lugares que dejó
Historia · Sagrada Família
The church Gaudí spent his life building
On 19 March 1882 work on the Sagrada Família began under the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar; the following year Villar resigned and the young Gaudí took over, turning it into a work blending Gothic with curving Art Nouveau. Gaudí devoted the rest of his life to the church and was buried in its crypt. In 1936 anarchists set fire to the crypt and broke into the workshop, destroying some of Gaudí's original drawings. On 7 November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and declared it a minor basilica.
Historia · Park Güell
A park meant to be an upmarket housing estate
When the industrialist Eusebi Güell commissioned Gaudí to design this hillside, the two envisaged an exclusive private housing estate with modern amenities, and public spaces such as stairs, terraces and gardens embodied their political and religious ideals, such as the Catalanist symbols on the entrance steps. Work ran from 1900 to 1914, and it finally opened to the public as a park in 1926.
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