Juan Trias de Bes, Director of the hARQware Platform Chair at the School of Architecture of the International University of Catalonia, member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of the Construction Board of the Sagrada Familia of Barcelona and full member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (READ), led on Wednesday, 22 April, an institutional visit made by the academic community to the works of the basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí in commemoration of the centenary of the legendary architect’s death. Participants attended an introductory lecture delivered by the academic in one of the temple’s cloisters and then took part in an exclusive tour during which they accessed reserved spaces and received first-hand information on the progress of the construction works.

This event followed the two visits that members of the Royal Corporation, together with family and friends, had already made to the temple in 2022 under the guidance of Trias de Bes himself and Jordi Faulí, Director of the construction works. “The Sagrada Familia offers a great diversity of fields of understanding (historical, theological, artistic, architectural, mathematical…). On this occasion, the visit focused on the geometric-constructional features and their relationship with the wide range of aspects surrounding the work of the Sagrada Familia. Because of its specificity, this dimension of Antoni Gaudí’s project is not widely known in depth. The complexity of the parametrisation solutions and their relationship with the difficulty of constructing a building of such dimensions requires careful observation,” the academic himself stated before this latest visit.

Over the past few years, the Royal Academy has addressed various aspects of the temple’s design and construction through various activities. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, it held the debate “Social Impact of Major Infrastructures: the Case of the Sagrada Familia” as part of the activities promoted by its Technological Sciences Section. The session included the participation of full members Jaume Armengou, Antonio Gens, and Jaime Rodrigo de Larrucea, who acted as moderator, as well as the experts Antonio Aguado and Rosa Ribas. Fellow academic José Luis Salido introduced the event and the speakers. For his part, Armand Puig, Rector of the Sant Pacià University Athenaeum and full member of the READ, took part in the 3rd Week of the Bible held in the basilica itself with the lecture “Biblical Meditation on the Façade of the Passion” and in the second session of the cycle “Theological Interpretations of the Tower of Jesus Christ of the Sagrada Familia” organised by the Athenaeum with the lecture “Ecclesiological Axis of the Tower,” which he delivered together with Joan Torra, Rector of the Athenaeum. Francesc Torralba, Director of the Ethos Chair of Applied Ethics at Ramon Llull University and of the Chair of Christian Thought of the Bishopric of Urgell, member of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See and full member of the READ, also took part in that session.

Likewise, the Royal European Academy of Doctors organises the Series of Commemorative Panels for the Centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s Death, held between April and June. The series is structured around eight sessions entitled “Gaudí and His Time,” “Gaudí, His Biography,” “Gaudí, Architect,” “Gaudí and the Sagrada Familia,” “Gaudí and Modernism,” “Gaudí and His Legacy,” “Gaudí and His Mysticism” and “Gaudí: Architecture, Education and Spirituality,” and has as its precedent the discussion panels promoted and organised in 2002 by the Fundación Independiente on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Gaudí’s birth, under the presidency of Ignacio Buqueras, President of the Foundation of the Association for the Dissemination and Promotion of the World Heritage of Spain–Adiprope, Honorary President of the Spanish Confederation of Organisations for Older People, full member of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain and emeritus member of the READ.