Antoni Gaudi is the Spanish architect best known as the chief designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia.
Construction began in 1882 under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, but Gaudi took over the project in 1883 after Villar resigned. He radically transformed the original Gothic Revival plan, introducing his distinctive blend of Catalan Modernisme, Art Nouveau, and experimental structural design.
Gaudi devoted the rest of his life to the basilica, though he died in 1926 with only part of the enormous project completed. Much of his workshop and working models were damaged or destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, so later architects had to reconstruct elements from surviving plans, photographs, and models.
A common mix-up is to credit Gaudi with starting the building. He was not the original architect, but he became its defining designer and chief architect. The Sagrada Familia remains unfinished, although it was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI as a minor basilica in 2010.