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Barcelona commemorates 100 years since Gaudí's death with plaque on Gran Via

The city installs a new memorial at the site where the architect was hit by a tram a century ago.

Commemorative plaque in Barcelona in memory of Antoni Gaudí.
IA

Commemorative plaque in Barcelona in memory of Antoni Gaudí.

Barcelona has installed a commemorative plaque on Gran Via, at number 665, to honor Antoni Gaudí on the centenary of his death, which occurred on June 10, 1926, after being hit by a tram.

The city of Barcelona has installed a commemorative plaque on Gran Via, at number 665, to mark the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí. The architect was hit by a tram on June 7, 1926, at this very spot and died three days later in the hospital. This new memorial space aims to recognize Gaudí's figure and universal legacy, within the framework of the Gaudí Year.
The event, which gathered around 150 people, featured the participation of the Esbart Gaudí and included a dance performance and the reading of a contemporary news report about the architect's death. The plaque, circular and about 15 centimeters in diameter, bears a commemorative message and the logos of the Gaudí Year, the Antoni Gaudí Council, the Barcelona City Council, and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The commissioner of the Gaudí Year, Galdric Santana, highlighted that Gaudí "made every effort not to appear in photographs" and that his work was his "ultimate representation." Santana suggested that the drama of his death could inspire a major film production and proposed creating a festival around his figure.
The councilor for the Eixample district, Jordi Valls, emphasized Gaudí's importance as "one of the world's leading architects" and his "significant spiritual charge," as well as his vision of architecture linked to nature. Meanwhile, the director general of Heritage of the Generalitat, Joaquim Borràs, described the plaque as a "restorative gesture" that "incorporates a new point into the city that invites people to stop, remember, and look at the places we inhabit."
Gaudí's death, on June 10, 1926, at the age of 73, occurred after he was struck by a tram on line 30 while walking on the road. According to contemporary accounts, his disheveled appearance led many to ignore him initially. A police officer facilitated his transport to the Santa Creu hospital, where he was admitted without identification. After three days of hospitalization, his injuries proved fatal. His remains rest in the Crypt of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the Sagrada Família.
The original tombstone in the Sagrada Família was damaged in 1936, and the current plaque replaces the name 'Antoni Gaudí i Cornet' with 'Antonius Gaudí Cornet'. The architect's tomb will be one of the sites that Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit soon, in the context of Gaudí's beatification process.

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