Architect Jordi Bonet, continuator of the works of the Sagrada Familia, dies at the age of 97

“My father was a friend of Gaudí and directed the works of the temple for a few years.

I have been at the helm of his continuation for years, but the Bonets have done nothing but try to be faithful to Gaudí's will”.

This is how the architect Jordi Bonet, who died this Monday in Barcelona, ​​explained himself in a talk with the readers of EL PAÍS.

Jordi Bonet i Armengol (Barcelona, ​​May 1925) has died at the age of 97 after a lifetime dedicated to the Sagrada Familia.

From 1987 to 2012 he was the director of the works of the temple, Gaudí's unfinished opera magna.

In 2012 he was replaced by Jordi Faulí i Oller, becoming emeritus architect and advisor to the Board of Trustees.

"He has been a good and generous man, an asset to the country, an enthusiast of architecture, culture, skiing, and a patriot who has taken Catalonia and Gaudí all over the world," his granddaughter Mireia wrote on social media. .

Bonet received distinctions such as the Creu de Sant Jordi, the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona, ​​the Cross of the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio from the Ministry of Education and Science, and the President Macià work medal.

He directed -among others- the works of the church of Sant Medir in Barcelona, ​​the Mare de Déu de Montserrat in Badalona (Barcelona) and the Monestir de Sant Benet de Montserrat (Barcelona);

and he also worked in the construction of houses, in the field of industrial architecture and in innovation with new materials and designs.

Within the scouting movement, he was the first president of the Catholic Scout Movement of Spain and was general secretary of the Catholic Scouting Conference from 1977 to 1981. He was also general director of Artistic Heritage of the Generalitat de Catalunya between 1981 and 1984.

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