Highbrow

Stop Sagrada Familia

Purists call for Gaudi masterpiece to be halted.

If Dr. Seuss built a cathedral, it would be La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s still-unfinished masterpiece in Barcelona, with its drippy-sandcastle spires. But now, 125 years after construction began, architectural purists are arguing that modern architects who are completing Gaudi’s masterpiece have perverted his vision. Four hundred Spanish intellectuals, including the director of the Reina Sofia art museum, the president of the Miro Foundation, and Gaudi’s son, have signed a manifesto calling for an end to construction. The group charges that the architects currently working on the building are not following Gaudi’s plans faithfully in order to appease the demands of tourism.