Sagrada Família, Gaudi’s eccentric homage to Catalonia – archive, 1983 (opens in new tab)

23 July 1983 A look back at the 100–year history of Barcelona’s ‘cathedral for the poor’George Orwell called it “one of the most hideous buildings in the world” and berated the Spanish anarchists for not blowing it up when they had the chance during the civil war. Salvador Dalí, in contrast, praised the architect’s “supremely creative bad taste” and suggested that the building was unfinishable, “at least until a new genius appears.”The architect was Antonio Gaudí; the building, Barcelona’s mo...