← Three short discoveries on WatWat
The facade of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona
Belief

Seven properties built by Antoni Gaudí in and around Barcelona make up a serial World Heritage property, inscribed for his exceptional contribution to architecture and . The basilica everyone photographs is on that list. Construction there has continued for a century after his death in 1926.

Physical measurement

Two parts of it. The inscription covers Gaudí’s work on the Nativity façade and the of the Sagrada Família, not the building as a whole, because the rest went up after him. The other six components are Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Milà, Casa Vicens, Casa Batlló and the Crypt of Colònia Güell.

Seven properties built by Antoni Gaudí in or near Barcelona testify to his exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are inscribed together as one .

The list is specific about which pieces count. It names Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Milà, Casa Vicens, Casa Batlló, the Crypt of Colònia Güell, and Gaudí’s work on the Nativity façade and Crypt of the Sagrada Família.

That phrasing is the whole point for the basilica. Only the parts Gaudí himself worked on are inscribed, which leaves the towers and façades completed in the decades since outside the listing, however familiar they are.

The justification runs through the work as a body. It is called an exceptional creative synthesis of several 19th-century schools, from Arts and Crafts through Symbolism, Expressionism and Rationalism. Rooted in Catalan sources and in modern industry, it anticipated forms and techniques of 20th-century .

wat. The façade and the crypt are Gaudí; the rest of the skyline is after him.

wat wat

It draws a line between what Gaudí built and what has been built in his name, inside one famous silhouette.

How do we know?

The World Heritage listing names each component of the serial property and states the criteria under which the seven were inscribed.

Physical measurementEstablished knowledge

What is still unknown

A heritage listing records what was inscribed, and says nothing about the quality of the later work.

Learn something?

UNESCO World Heritage Centre· 1984

Where to next

How do you build a church without stacking a single stone?world heritageWhy is one square in Lucca a perfect oval?architecture

Want another one worth repeating?

Start with three short discoveries. No sign-up, nothing to pick first.

Surprise me
Browse the topic libraryAbout WatWat, and how sources get checked