How an Italian Artist Completed Gaudí’s Vision 100 years after his death (and Lego has launched a new set in its honor)
For over 140 years, the Sagrada Família has towered over the streets of Barcelona. This year, on the centenary of architect Antoni Gaudí’s death, the basilica is finally nearing completion, and those responsible for the church and the city have planned a full year of celebrations to mark the occasion.
In medieval and Renaissance Europe, the completion of cathedrals took centuries, with styles evolving as construction progressed. The Sagrada Família, in this sense, is a continuation of that tradition. The extravagant basilica never pretended that every chisel strike was Gaudí’s own; instead, it openly declares itself a palimpsest, layered with successive interpretations of the architect’s intentions.
When Gaudí took over the project in the early 1880s and reshaped its design according to his creative and exuberant style, he envisioned completing it within a decade, an goal that proved wildly optimistic. The architect died suddenly in 1926, struck by a tram on his way to confession. His studio contained models, drawings, and plaster casts detailing the rest of his vision, but ten years later, in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, anarchists set fire to his archive, partially destroying it. Construction was suspended and resumed over the following decades, guided by a group of artists and architects who sought to balance Gaudí’s unique style with elements of contemporary aesthetics.
Sagrada Família Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, from Placa de Gaudi Photo C messier. Wikimedia Commons, license CC BY-SA 4.0
Sagrada Família Cathedral, Barcelona, Cruz Jesùs Photo Canaan. Wikimedia Commons, license CC BY-SA 4.0
Ceilings of the Sagrada Família Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain
Photo Alvesgaspar. Wikimedia Commons, license CC BY-SA 4.0
One of the key elements still awaiting completion was the summit of the Tower of Jesus Christ, an essential feature that Gaudí had already envisioned in his designs for the Basilica, as evidenced in the Àlbums del Temple, published during the architect’s lifetime, which contain an explicit reference to the Lamb of God. This is the subject conceived for the monumental centerpiece of the world’s tallest church, which reaches 172 meters in height. On September 20, 2023, the Board of Directors of the Junta Constructora de la Sagrada Família decided to launch a competition to select the work that would represent the Agnus Dei. Five internationally renowned artists were invited to participate: Italians Edoardo Tresoldi and Andrea Mastrovito, Portuguese sculptor David Oliveira, and Spanish artists Gonzalo Borondo and Jordi Alcaraz. Each presented a sketch and a scale three-dimensional model in their own style, and in 2024 the verdict came: the winner was Andrea Mastrovito, an artist from Bergamo.
In Barcelona, Catalan architects spoke to him about the rigour essential to following the guidelines left nearly a century ago by Antoni Gaudí. While tracing the century-old footsteps of the master, Mastrovito drew inspiration from a book with little to do with religion: Il grande spettacolo del cielo (The Great Spectacle of the Sky), written by astrophysicist Marco Bersanelli. In that book, Bersanelli explains how the profile of the Tower of Jesus at the Sagrada Família, and its geometry based on hyperboloids, is consistent with theories of galaxy formation and with what is currently known about the expansion of the universe. Bersanelli suggests that Gaudí’s architecture does with bricks what the universe does with matter: it organizes chaos to allow light to manifest and be perceived.
Sagrada Família Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain. Photo Fred Romero. Wikimedia Commons, license CC BY-SA 2.0
From this emerged the idea for his Agnus Dei: a lamb, symbol of Jesus Christ, which will become a sculpture formed from thousands of shards of glass, set within interwoven rays of light shaped into a hyperbolic hyperboloid, a kind of twisted cylinder coiled upon itself. The lamb will be slightly larger than a real lamb, with its head turned backward and downward, “a symbol of Christ’s nostalgic gaze toward humanity.” Each of the thousands of glass shards represents a human suffering taken on by Christ. In Christian iconography, the Agnus Dei represents Jesus Christ in his role as sacrificial victim, who through death and resurrection redeems humanity. The lamb sculpture will be surrounded by rays approximately three meters long, covered in gold leaf, which will intersect to form the hyperboloid. Inside each ray, LED lights will illuminate engraved inscriptions, biblical quotations selected together with the theologians collaborating with the Sagrada Família’s architects, each drawn from passages that speak of the Agnus Dei. Finally, thanks to certain phosphorus-coated elements, the Agnus Dei will appear to glow with its own light and will be visible from outside the basilica.
To further celebrate the landmark completion of the Sagrada Família, Lego has decided to release its largest set ever produced. The replica of the Barcelona cathedral will consist of 12,060 pieces, priced at €750, and will be available from November 1, 2026. “We felt an immense responsibility to do justice to the Sagrada Família through this project,” said Rok Žgalin Kobe, Lego Architecture designer. The Lego Sagrada Família can be divided into sections, revealing the interior, illuminated by faithfully recreated stained glass windows. “Our goal was to honor Gaudí’s vision with the utmost respect, capturing the rhythm of the basilica’s construction, its extraordinary complexity and ambition, and translating all of this into an immersive building experience,” Žgalin Kobe added.
*All images on this blog are used for educational and critical purposes only. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners and authors. The gallery remains at the disposal of the rightsholders for any corrections, specific citations, or immediate removals upon request.
