Antoni Gaudí i Cornet is Spain's most famous architect and one of the most original in history. Seven of his works in and around Barcelona are UNESCO-listed, and the Sagrada Família, begun in 1882, is still under construction.
Life
He was born on 25 June 1852 in Reus, or nearby Riudoms, in the province of Tarragona, into a family of coppersmiths: he himself credited that trade with his ability to think in space. He graduated from Barcelona's school of architecture in 1878; the director is said to have remarked that he did not know whether they had given the title to a genius or a madman. Decisive was his meeting with the industrialist Eusebi Güell, who became his lifelong patron. Gaudí was a leading figure of Catalan modernisme (see modern art), but developed a highly personal style based on observing nature, geometry and innovative structural solutions, such as the catenary arches he studied with models of strings and weights.
In his last years, increasingly religious, he devoted himself solely to the Sagrada Família, living on site. On 7 June 1926 he was hit by a tram; poorly dressed, he was not recognised and was taken to the paupers' hospital, where he died on 10 June. He is buried in the crypt of the Sagrada Família. A beatification cause is under way.
Works in Barcelona
- Sagrada Família: the expiatory temple, with the Nativity façade, the only one completed in Gaudí's lifetime, and the Passion façade, the forest-of-columns interior and coloured stained glass. Consecrated as a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, in February 2026 it completed the tower of Jesus Christ with its great cross: at 172.5 metres it became the tallest church in the world, in the very year of the centenary of Gaudí's death. Work, including the Glory façade, will continue for some years yet.
- Casa Batlló (1904-1906), on Passeig de Gràcia, with its undulating ceramic and glass façade and dragon-shaped roof.
- Casa Milà, known as La Pedrera (1906-1912), a building without load-bearing walls, with a rippling stone façade and a roof populated by chimneys like warriors.
- Park Güell (1900-1914), conceived as a garden city on Carmel hill, with the salamander staircase, the hall of a hundred columns and the serpentine bench of trencadís, broken-tile mosaic.
- Palau Güell (1886-1888), Güell's town palace near the Rambla.
- Casa Vicens (1883-1888), his first major work, with Mudéjar influences.
- The Colonia Güell crypt at Santa Coloma de Cervelló, testing ground for the Sagrada Família's solutions.
Outside Catalonia Gaudí built the Episcopal Palace of Astorga, the Casa Botines in León and El Capricho at Comillas, in Cantabria.
Visiting tips
The most famous works, especially the Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló and Park Güell, require a timed ticket booked online, often days ahead in high season. See also our Barcelona guide and the 10 things to see.