On June 7, 1926, Antoni Gaudí was run over by a tram in Barcelona. The resulting injuries would eventually cause his death. One hundred years later, this dossier celebrates his life and work.

That the Pope comes personally to Barcelona and has the tower of Jesus Christ of the Sagrada Família blessed in Spanish only has one explanation: the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) is Spanish first and then episcopal.

The Asland cement factory, promoted by Eusebi Güell in Castellar de n’Hug (Berguedà), forever marked the history of the neighboring town of La Pobla de Lillet. The factory's impact on the municipality's urbanistic and social structure has been defined as the transition, in a few years, from the Middle Ages to the modern world. And in the entire project, two works by Antoni Gaudí stand out: the Xalet del Catllaràs and the Artigas gardens, a commission from the businessman Joan Artigas Alart. For this reason, after celebrating Güell Year five years ago, the town is now celebrating Gaudí Year with about sixty events, organized by the Lillet Studies Center with the collaboration of the La Pobla de Lillet City Council. Highlights include a film about the relationship between Güell and Gaudí with the town and an exhibition with large-format models of the old Asland factory, which began operating in 1904, and Gaudí's works.

A group of researchers from the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona were on the roof of the Palau Güell, on Carrer Nou de la Rambla in Barcelona, and noticed the twenty chimneys that crown this Antoni Gaudí building, recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Observing them, the question arose. Do they work or are they just ornamental? "It could be that they were just for show or a way to boast," explains Albert Samper, professor at the Higher Technical School of Architecture, who recalls that chimneys were a status symbol, as it implied that buildings that had them had heating, a luxury that at the end of the 19th century only the wealthy classes could afford. But it could also be that the chimneys responded to their main function and were capable of extracting smoke. Gaudí did not write anywhere whether the original chimneys could actually work.

The brilliant figure of Ildefons Cerdà has often served as a scapegoat. The trend was initiated by a prominent figure of conservative Catalanism and modernist architecture, Josep Puig i Cadafalch. His obsession still lingers. The Barcelona City Council finally wants to dedicate a sculpture to Cerdà in Universitat square, one of the initial spaces where the Eixample began to be built. Surely someone will still pull from the drawer of bad ideological fixes the tired clichés about the engineer who shaped modern Barcelona: that he was a utopian socialist (false), that he was a unimaginative rationalist (false), that Madrid imposed his project on us (in this case, it was a stroke of luck). For too long, he has been absurdly and simplistically despised as a centralist stain.

Jordi Faulí (Barcelona, 1959) joined the Sagrada Familia's technical office in 1990, when the temple was not yet covered. Three years later he was appointed assistant director architect. And in 2012 he became, succeeding Jordi Bonet, the seventh director architect since Antoni Gaudí. Among the milestones of his direction are the completion of the naves and the culmination of the Tower of the Virgin Mary and the Tower of Jesus.

"You have to imagine everything around you without any buildings," says the guide. We're at Casa Vicens, on an exclusive tour for the ARA Premium ClubIt's a jewel of Modernism that attracts visitors from all over the world every day. For many tourists, it's common to visit the Sagrada Família and then this treasure nestled among other buildings. Gaudí had a wonderful time, and he had a large team of artisan collaborators (and workers who probably labored in appalling conditions). When this house was built—in just two years, between 1883 and 1885—Gràcia was still an independent town, not yet annexed to Barcelona. It was built as a summer home for Manel Vicens, a stockbroker, and his wife. When Vicens died, it became their residence. Currently, Casa Vicens is owned by the Andorran bank MoraBanc and is open to the public.

The accident in which Antoni Gaudí was struck by a tram on June 7, 1926, at the intersection of Bailèn and Gran Via streets, is well-known and forms part of the popular myth surrounding the brilliant architect, as does the fact that those who initially came to his aid thought he was a beggar. His simplicity and austerity were thus reinforced. Three days later, Gaudí died at the Hospital de la Santa Creu, the hospital for the poor, where he had been taken because of his appearance and where he chose to remain. So far, so well known.

Antoni Gaudí's workshop at the Sagrada Família was a tightly packed world of models, sculpture molds, and plans. Gaudí himself lived there during the last years of his life. The workshop was burned down by a group of anarchists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, but starting this Thursday, it can be explored again thanks to the immersive VR experience at Barcelona Cathedral. Gaudí, the workshop of the divine, which arrives in the Catalan capital after its international tour. The exhibition begins with a bedridden Gaudí who feels he is dying and addresses the visitors as if they were his assistants, with the aim of transmitting his working method.

The Chalet del Catllaràs, in La Pobla de Lillet (Berguedà), has been attributed to Gaudí since the publication of an article by the architect Viladevall in the magazine Farmhouses and Skyscrapers in 1946. But there had never been conclusive documentation to justify its attribution. Until now, when the Department of Culture made public at the villa itself a report by Galdric Santana, director of the Gaudí Chair and curator of the Gaudí Year 2026. The villa was built by Count Güell at the time when Gaudí was working for him on the initial stages of construction of Park Güell and the church of the Güell Colony, and had already built the various elements of the Güell Estate and the Güell Palace. The attribution had always been based "on the visual and formal comparison of the villa with elements of Gaudí's work," as Santana states, who now argues for Gaudí's authorship through the geometric, structural, constructive, and compositional analysis of the villa. During the study, Santana worked with plans that establish comparisons with buildings by Gaudí himself and with 3D models. "“Today we celebrate news of enormous value to our cultural heritage,” said the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández, during the presentation of the study. “This case reminds us how essential scientific accreditation is to rigorously determine the authorship of works,” the Minister explained. “Today is a very important day for La Pobla; the municipality will finally see the authorship of our brilliant, universal architect recognized,” emphasized the Mayor of La Pobla de Lillet, Enric Pla. Despite the lack of conclusive documentation, the villa is well-known and has been promoted as a tourist attraction. In 2002, a restoration was completed with the aim of returning it to its original appearance. At that time, the Gaudí Chair questioned whether Gaudí was the author. “It was built and modified by third parties, and its execution could have been carried out by other collaborators to oversee its construction remotely, so it is not a work claimed by Gaudí.” "Gaudí," says Santana, who doesn't entirely rule out the possibility that the chalet's architect could be Gaudí's collaborator Juli Batllevell, whom the Civil Guard arrested at Parc Güell. But, whatever the case, this fact "would also imply Gaudí's participation in the project."

Since 1992, Barcelona's leaders have presented the city as a vast Olympic village buried beneath the magma of some kind of volcano (with a crater in Montjuïc, I suppose), paralyzed and petrified by the success of Games held decades ago—excesses year after year, all under the banner of "managing success." Since then, the attempts to find an equivalent event or distraction for the city's residents have been varied: from the Forum of Cultures to the grandiose Winter Olympics, not to mention the extreme frivolity of the America's Cup or the Formula 1 exhibitions on Passeig de Gràcia. They've tried every possible approach, and none have succeeded: there's no way to deny that the biggest popular, massive, inspiring, civic, and unanimous event in Barcelona since 1992 was the referendum of October 1, 2017, and all the demonstrations that followed. This year, if they also intend to conceal this fact under the veil of a contrived and superficial Gaudí Year, it will backfire on them as well.

It's Gaudí's least touristy building: the Teresian convent in Barcelona's Sarrià district remains a place of retreat. "It's very austere, but very beautiful," says Asun, a nun from the congregation of Saint Teresa of Jesus who has lived there most of her life, since her school days as a boarder. For Asun, the convent, which appears in every Gaudí monograph, is simply "home." She says this with pride as she welcomes about fifty journalists covering the presentation of the Gaudí Year's program. And what a home it is, with the famous succession of narrow parabolic arches on the first floor and the surprising addition of two small forests of columns.

Nestled among vineyards and grand farmhouses in the heart of the Rials Valley lies Alella. This town, renowned for the wines of the country's smallest designation of origin, is also associated with the illustrious name of Antoni Gaudí. The fact that a town square bears his name is a clue, but less well-known is that the architect from Reus designed a chapel and altarpiece in Alella that were never built. The story of this project remained hidden for years, and its rediscovery was a genuine surprise.

The other day Antoni Gaudí resurrected for a little while. He went down the slide from heaven. He did a somersault and rolled down to the Sagrada Família. He set up the portable scaffolding he always carries in his pocket. He took out the sandwich wrapped in brown paper and took a bite of the oily herring. And, well, off to work.

February 8

Elections

2026 begins with rumblings of a possible snap election in Spain due to the various crises plaguing Pedro Sánchez's party. But while this remains unconfirmed, several regional elections are scheduled for this year, serving as a prelude to the struggle for the Spanish government. The People's Party (PP) will test its majority in Aragon—where it has been unable to form a coalition government with Vox and has called elections—on February 8, in Castile and León on March 15, and in Andalusia in June. These three dates are crucial for gauging the strength of the PSOE-PP battle for the central government, which could very well become another major election of the year.

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Antoni Gaudí dedicated himself exclusively to the Sagrada Família for the last twelve years of his life. By then, he had already established himself as a brilliant architect, and the Sagrada Família is, moreover, an exceptional building. However, Gaudí liked to know what the humblest people thought of his work. When he finished the Bernabé Tower, Gaudí asked the clockmaker who wound the temple's clocks what he thought of it. When the man replied that it was "incredible," Gaudí was overjoyed and spent the entire day repeating to everyone that the man had said the tower was wonderful. This was explained by Jordi Faulí, the architect in charge and coordinator of the temple's construction, and Chiara Curti, an architect and Gaudí scholar, who this Sunday led the commemoration of the centenary of the inauguration of the Bernabé Tower, the only one Gaudí saw completed. “What Gaudí did was teach us a method, that is, to build in complete parts, to awaken people’s capacity for wonder,” Curti explains. “In the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí began with the small chapel in the crypt and then finished the crypt. He continued with the apse, and when that was finished, he built another one.” The Tower of Barnabas is the easternmost, and it is no coincidence that it was the first one he finished. “Saint Barnabas is the last of the apostles. In fact, he didn’t even know Jesus, and, in a way, he is the most like us, because we too believe without having known. This gesture meant highlighting the contemporaneity of this apostle.”

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The Gaudí Year 2026 is getting closer. This morning, the Sant Pacià University Athenaeum (AUSP) organized the first event of the commemorations of the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) at the Sagrada Família. The event consisted of a mass in the central nave of the basilica presided over by Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, Grand Chancellor of the AUSP, and the inaugural lecture for the 2025-2026 academic year was given by the director of the temple's works, Jordi Faulí. A prayer at Gaudí's tomb in the crypt before Faulí's speech was one of the most intense moments of the day.

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The Sagrada Família is finalizing the work to complete what will be the icing on the cake of the events commemorating the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death. Although it won't be open to visitors until later, the viewing cross that will crown the Sagrada Família's tallest tower will be ready in June 2026, coinciding with the anniversary of the death of the architect who designed the basilica. This figure, 17 meters high, 13.5 meters wide, and weighing 100 tons, will bring the tower of Jesus Christ to a height of 172.5 meters (it currently measures about 155 meters) and make the Sagrada Família the tallest religious building in Europe. It will be one of the milestones of a temple that still faces, however, the challenge of the staircase. An issue that the construction board acknowledged this Thursday will end up in court.

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At the beginning of May, the world premiere of Symphony of the Sagrada Familia, a piece in three movements by Richard Blackford (London, 1954), which is inspired by the forms and spirituality conveyed by Gaudí's temple and, specifically, by its three façades: Nativity, Passion, and Glory. Blackford, who lives between Mallorca and the British capital, has a very long career that took a sudden turn in 2014: he consolidated the career of a contemporary composer who you only have to listen to to realize that he is and sounds, also, like a classic. The proof, in addition to the Gaudí symphony, which is accompanied by a film ad hoc, could be Pietan either Voices of Exile, a composition that resonates especially these days, for sadly obvious reasons.

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