Almuzara Presents “Gaudí, el arquitecto del alma” in Les Corts
“With this essay I want to introduce, in a personal and reflective way, the man, the architect and the Christian that Gaudí was, inviting the reader to reflect”
Architect and Gaudí scholar José Manuel Almuzara presented his new essay, «Gaudí, el arquitecto del alma», at the Mare de Déu del Remei parish in Barcelona. A work that traces the man, the architect and the Christian who dwelt within the genius of the Sagrada Família.
Architect and Gaudí scholar José Manuel Almuzara presented his book «Gaudí, el arquitecto del alma. Las enseñanzas espirituales de un genio» (Gaudí, the Architect of the Soul: The Spiritual Teachings of a Genius) at the Mare de Déu del Remei parish, in Barcelona's Les Corts district. A graduate of the ETSAB in 1977, Almuzara is also a co-founder of the Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí, established in 1992. The parish itself shared the full video of the event on its YouTube channel, under the title «Presentación del libro GAUDI, EL ARQUITECTO DEL ALMA por José Manuel Almuzara». The gathering offered an opportunity to draw closer to Gaudí's life and work from a distinctly spiritual perspective.
Published by Roca Editorial in 2026, the 224-page essay brings together a reading of Gaudí through three complementary lenses: the man, the architect and the Christian. Almuzara does not dwell solely on the technical brilliance of the creator of the Sagrada Família, but rather seeks the inner thread that unifies his life and his faith. More than a conventional biography, the book presents itself as an open invitation to the reader. The author himself sums up the purpose that has guided these pages.
“I have learned to look in order to learn how to live, to keep a capacity for wonder, to strive for the lessening of the self, to press on”
The book's release began on 19 March 2026, the feast of Saint Joseph, a date rich in symbolism for Gaudí's masterpiece. On that same day in 1882, the foundation stone of the Sagrada Família was laid. The choice is no coincidence: it links the birth of the project with the spiritual vocation that Almuzara wishes to underscore. In this way, the essay builds a bridge between the origins of the church and its deepest meaning.
Throughout his career, Almuzara has devoted decades to sharing the figure of Gaudí and advancing the cause of his beatification. His bond with the Sagrada Família has always been one of service, as he himself has made clear. Through the Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí, founded in 1992, he has worked to make known the architect's Christian dimension. This book is part of that same labour of patient and selfless outreach.
“I have never been an employee of the Sagrada Família, only an instrument in making the church and Gaudí known”
Beyond its architectural rigour, «Gaudí, el arquitecto del alma» offers a lesson for life that the author himself has made his own. Almuzara shares the teachings that his long contact with the genius's work has left him. It is, ultimately, a reading that aspires to transform the reader's gaze as much as to inform it. The event at the Mare de Déu del Remei parish confirmed the resonance that Gaudí's figure still awakens as a testimony of faith and of beauty.