Works of Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Reus, or possibly Riudoms, in Catalonia, and graduated as an architect in Barcelona in 1878. His first important commission was the Casa Vicens, built from 1883 to 1888 for the stockbroker Manuel Vicens i Montaner. In 1883 he also took over the Sagrada Família, a church begun the year before to a neo-Gothic design by Francisco de Paula del Villar, and redesigned everything except the part of the crypt already built.

The industrialist Eusebi Güell became his main patron. For Güell he built the Palau Güell in Barcelona, the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló (1908 to 1914) and the Park Güell (1900 to 1914). The park was first planned as an estate of 60 triangular plots for wealthy buyers, but only two houses were built, and it opened to the public as a park in 1926. Gaudí also built the Casa Batlló (1904 to 1906) and the Casa Milà (1906 to 1912).

From 1915 Gaudí worked only on the Sagrada Família, yet in his lifetime just the crypt, the apse and part of the Nativity façade were finished. On 7 June 1926 he was struck by a tram on the Gran Via and died three days later, on 10 June; he is buried in the Sagrada Família. Park Güell, Palau Güell and Casa Milà were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1984, and in 2005 the listing was extended to the Nativity façade and crypt of the Sagrada Família, Casa Vicens, Casa Batlló and the crypt of the Colònia Güell.