The date is well known. At around six in the evening on 7 June 1926, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was on his way to his daily mass in Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, a hidden corner in the heart of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter where the dwindling local community – embodied by the children from a nearby school who play in this kind of courtyard – puts up resistance to the 26.1 million tourists who come to the city every year, largely to enjoy the legacy of the quintessential Catalan architect.
Fittingly, on the centenary of his death, Pope León XIV will be in Barcelona for the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus at the Sagrada Família, his greatest work, which has been under construction for more than 140 years.
