sagrada familia
Gaudí never expected the cathedral to be completed in his lifetime. Begun in 1882, only one facade was finished when he died. It was handed over to another architect. But in 1936, as civil war engulfed Spain, an anti-clerical mob stormed into the Sagrada Familia, burned the design plans and smashed plaster models of the project. Architect Lluis Bonet helped remove the shards and painstakingly reconstructed the models. Today, they are used as a guide for converting Gaudi's dream into reality. It is being built around his remains; the architect is entombed in the cathedral. Bonet's son, Jordi Bonet, is now overseeing the project.
	As a young man he joined the National Catalonian Movement and was critical of the church; later in his life he dedicated his entire life to the building of one single church. When he was a young man he tended to have an illustrious and dandy-like life; when he got old he lived his life very strictly. As a Catalan nationalist, and he refused to speak Spanish, and he never married.

Links extensive information on all his buildings Gaudí directory at Gaudí central

9june98