Santa Coloma del Cervelló - Colonia Güell

In 1898 Count Eusebi Güell, the great patron of Antoni Gaudí, had a social settlement laid out for the workers in his textile factory in Santa Coloma del Cervelló

Gaudí was commissioned to build a church for the settlement and his preliminary sketches reveal a startling similarity with the Sagrada Famiàlia. However the church in the workers' settlement was actually not built in the same style as the latter.

The lower part of the planned church, the so-called crypt, was constructed between 1908 and 1916 on a pine-clad hill. In its design two aspects are clearly visible: on the one hand the static and formal structural details of Gothic - in so far as these were adopted by Gaudí - and on the other hand the principle of "oblique supports" which he introduced, and which, together with parabolic enclosing arches, permits a spatial design free from all restraints. The mosaics, especially the one above the main doorway, are particularly noteworthy. The pews in the church were also designed by Gaudi.