Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí was born in Catalonia, Spain, the son of a coppersmith, and as a child suffered from rheumatism that kept him from playing, so he spent long hours observing nature. The wealthy industrialist Eusebi Güell became his patron, and for him Gaudí designed a palace, a park and a church crypt. His style grew from Gothic and Moorish traditions into something entirely his own, full of curving walls, twisting columns shaped like trees, and roofs covered in broken tile mosaics. He tested his designs with hanging models made of chains and weights, turned upside down to find strong arches. In Barcelona he built Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, apartment buildings with wavy fronts, and Park Güell. In 1883 he took over the design of the Basilica of the Sagrada Família, the Holy Family church, and from 1914 he worked on nothing else, living simply on the site. In June 1926 he was struck by a tram; because he was poorly dressed, he was at first taken for a beggar, and he died three days later. The Sagrada Família is still being completed.

Faith: Devout Catholic whose faith deepened through his life; the Catholic Church declared him Venerable in 2025. Source: Wikipedia