Work commenced on the crypt beneath what would become the Sagrada Família, initially designed by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar before Antoni Gaudí took over the project the following year and transformed it into his life's obsessive masterpiece. Gaudí worked on the basilica until his death in 1926, leaving behind incomplete plans that generations of architects have since tried to faithfully realize, with completion still projected for the 2030s.
The Sagrada Família did not begin as Antoni Gaudí's vision at all. The original architect, Francisco de Paula del Villar, envisioned a conventional Gothic revival church, and it was under his direction that the crypt's foundation stone was laid. Disputes over the crypt's design led to Villar's resignation within a year, and the 31-year-old Gaudí inherited a project that would consume the rest of his life.
Gaudí transformed the plans into something unprecedented: a building fusing Gothic verticality with organic, almost skeletal forms drawn from trees, waves, and honeycombs, financed entirely by private donations rather than public or church funds, deliberately built slowly so as never to burden the faithful with debt. He moved into a workshop on the site and, in his final years, lived like a hermit among the stonemasons, reportedly telling visitors 'my client is not in a hurry.'
Gaudí died in 1926 after being struck by a tram, with less than a quarter of the building complete and many of his models and drawings destroyed in a 1936 fire during the Spanish Civil War. Construction, funded still by tourist entry fees and donations, continues to this day, with a target completion date of 2026 — the centenary of his death — repeatedly pushed back.