Tremp parish group call on Pope to recognize Catalan priest as inspiration for Sagrada Família

The announcement of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Barcelona for the inauguration of the recently completed Jesus Tower of the Sagrada Família on June 10 has brought attention once again to the origins of the inspiration for Gaudí's masterpiece.

A group of local priests in Tremp, western Catalonia say the original inspiration for the basilica came from their town. 

A previous pope, John Paul II, already recognised that it was the inspiration of the Catalan priest from Tremp, Josep Manyanet i Vives, that led to the construction of the Sagrada Família. Now, they wish for Pope Leo XIV to do the same. 

At the priest's old house in Tremp, which now serves as a museum, a letter sent in 1869 to Josep Caixal, then bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell, is on display. In the letter, Josep Manyanet i Vives explained his idea for building a temple in Barcelona. 

The Manyanet museum presents the history of the Sagrada Família through images and documents, starting from Josep Manyanet i Vives's original idea, to the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Xavier Boixados, a member of the Manyanet priest group in Tremp, said that Father Manyanet has largely gone unnoticed and that they now want to highlight him as a key figure in the creation of the Sagrada Família. 

Friendship with Antoni Gaudí

The Manyanet museum highlights the friendship between Josep Manyanet i Vives and Antoni Gaudí.

According to the exhibition, the two met in person in 1883 and developed a close relationship. 

Gaudí is said to have regarded Manyanet as "an exemplary priest" and as his "counsellor, pillar, support and constant inspiration in the work of the Sagrada Família."

Tremp nature as inspiration for Sagrada Família

According to a local legend in Tremp, Antoni Gaudí was enchanted by the beauty of Argenteria, a landscape close to the town. There, unusual cliff formations can be found in the region of Pallars Jussà.

Xavier Boixados has suggested that it is possible that Gaudí visited the area during a trip to see the priest Josep Manyanet i Vives in Tremp.

According to the theory, these cliff formations may have inspired Gaudí's designs for the Nativity Façade of the Sagrada Família, one of the façades of the basilica in Barcelona. 

However, there is no official evidence confirming this. What is known is that 'nature' was the main source of inspiration for Gaudí's work on the Sagrada Família.