In each city there are structures that tell stories, and that remind us of the great characters who completely changed the appearance of the place. The Catalan capital is no exception, and one cannot speak of great changes without mentioning Gaudí’s footprint in Barcelona.
Antoní Gaudí was a prominent architect and designer of Catalan origin. He was born in the province of Tarragona in 1852. From a very young age, Gaudí showed great interest in art, which he later channeled through architecture.
Gaudí is considered one of the most outstanding architects of the contemporary world, he was the forerunner and main exponent of modernism, a movement that he would use to completely change the construction canons of his time.
Gaudí began his career as an architect designing lampposts, a small job but one that encouraged him to continue with his professional work. Settled in the city of Barcelona, Gaudí collaborated with many other renowned architects, such as Francesc Folguera, Josep Maria Jujol and César Martinell.
However, Gaudí’s true leap to fame occurred during the Universal Exhibition of 1888. There, Gaudí participated as an exhibitor, and managed to attract the attention of many people with his architectural proposals and achievements.
With the passage of time, Gaudí’s career began to produce works that would be known internationally, such as the Sagrada Familia Cathedral and Parc Güell.
Modernism, Catalan modernism and naturalism are the styles most closely related to Gaudí. Most of his projects are based on these movements, and he always tried to give all his creations a completely unique touch.
Naturalism emerged as a personal interest for the architect, after having dedicated the first years of his career to modernist constructions.
From this stage, one of his most important creations was born, and which today is still part of Barcelona’s identity. It is Parc Güell, a large space of green areas designed by Gaudí.
The architect not only devised its shape and distribution, but also took care of such small details as the type of vegetation that should be in the park. Gaudí’s footprint in Barcelona is more than present in Parc Güell, which continues to be one of the most visited recreational spaces by locals.
Barcelona is linked to what is considered Gaudí’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This temple, which annually attracts thousands of tourists, has been under construction for more than a century.
Antoni Gaudí was killed by a tram in 1926, when the cathedral was still far from being finished. But that did not stop different architects from taking the project into their own hands, hoping to complete the construction in the same way that Gaudí would have done.
Today, the Sagrada Familia is one of the best-known Catholic temples in all of Europe, the tallest church in the world and the third most visited monument in Spain.
Gaudí’s footprint in Barcelona still lives on, and is still being built in the shape of the Sagrada Familia.
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