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The year of Gaudí on a grand scale. A centenary of architecture, exhibitions and modernism
The inauguration will take place on November 8 in the towns of Reus and Riudoms.
On November 8, Reus and Riudoms will kick off the Gaudí Year with a double event that aims to pay tribute to the origins —discussed and shared— of the most international architect of Catalan modernism. It will be the first stop on a calendar full of activities, conferences and exhibitions that, according to the curator of the Gaudí Year, Galdric Santana, aim to “promote and disseminate the scientific study of the figure of Gaudí”.
Reus and Riudoms, separated by a few kilometers, but united by an almost archaeological rivalry, are preparing to share the spotlight in an event that seeks to combine academic rigor and heritage fervor. All with the aim of placing the architect —once again— at the center of the cultural and tourist debate, and perhaps also to see which of the two municipalities can boast with more conviction of being “the true birthplace of Gaudí”.
The Gaudí Year, which will last until November 2026, promises an intense program of activities that will turn Catalonia into a great modernist laboratory. The Department of Culture has announced that it will allocate 6.5 million euros to the Gaudí Year, as explained and detailed at the presentation ceremony inside the Palau Güell. Of this amount, almost half —3 million— will be channeled through a line of aid “so that all the agents involved can celebrate and organize broad, diverse activities and that this commemoration has a plural, very participatory and very, very decentralized character,” according to Sònia Hernández.
According to the Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, the program of the Year of Gaudí, which will extend between 2025 and 2026, will include an immersive exhibition on the work of the master of trencadís, an academic congress, a documentary series and a solemn act at the Sagrada Família, yesterday coincided with the placement of the first element of the cross of the Tower of Jesus Christ, which will bring the building to nearly 163 meters. One of the central pieces of the centenary will be the Gaudí International Congress 2026, which will take place in La Pedrera and will bring together experts determined to study the architect from a scientific and disciplinary point of view.
For those who prefer less theory and more light, the Museum of the History of Catalonia will host an immersive exhibition that will explore Gaudí's work through its main compositional parameters, an expression that promises geometric emotions and curves of high aesthetic voltage. It commemorates
The Cathedral of Mallorca will be part of the Gaudí Year
The coordinator of the Gaudí Year at the Cathedral of Mallorca, Sebastián Escalas, recalled that between 1904 and 1915 Gaudí carried out a “liturgical and artistic reform of unique significance”, promoted by the then bishop Pere Joan Campins, with the aim of “improving the participation of the faithful in worship”. Escalas highlights that, despite remaining unfinished, the intervention marked a profound change in the conception of the sacred space.
