Today in History—March 19: The Original Plan for the Sagrada Família

March 19, 1882: The church in the works for 143 years

The Basilica de la Sagrada Família is inextricably tied to Antoni Gaudí. Its hivelike towers, stalactitic portals, and arborescent supports totally embody the Catalan architect’s vision for the church of the future. But when the bishop of Barcelona laid the basilica’s cornerstone on this day in 1882—St. Joseph’s Day—Gaudí was not the architect.

That distinction belonged to Francisco de Paula del Villar, the diocesan architect. A safe and experienced choice, he had overseen such ecclesiastical projects as the restoration of Santa Maria del Pi. For the Sagrada Família he drafted a conventional Gothic revival cathedral, in line with 19th-century church design. It included spired bell towers, pointed-arch windows, and flying buttresses.

The plan differed from what the basilica’s chief patron, Josep Maria Bocabella, imagined. The founder of the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of Saint Joseph, Bocabella and his friend Father Josep Manyanet dreamed of an expiatory temple—a church funded entirely by donations offered in penance—that would honor their namesake, St. Joseph, and the Holy Family.

By the end of 1881 they had raised enough alms to purchase land in Sant Martí de Provençals, then a town outside Barcelona. Inspired by a visit to Loreto, Italy, in 1871, Bocabella pictured recreating the Basilica della Santa Casa, with its Florentine facade and Brunelleschian dome, but del Villar persuaded him to abandon the idea.

Fun Fact

Most of Gaudí’s designs for the Sagrada Família were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, but his followers reconstructed them from photographs and publications.

Disagreements between patron and architect continued, and by 1883 del Villar had resigned. Only the crypt—the chapel beneath the church—had been partially completed. Bocabella asked Joan Martorell, a prominent Catalan architect advising the project, to take over, but he declined. Instead he recommended his protégé, Antoni Gaudí.

Gaudí was in his early 30s and already known for his bold use of color and geometry. He inherited little more than a foundation and a stalled dream, but his imagination eventually transformed a modest Gothic revival church into one of the most extraordinary—and still unfinished—buildings in the world.