The story surrounding the death of Gaudí is a graphic illustration of the almost absurd misfortune that filled the life and work of this enigmatic Spanish architect. On June 7, 1926, a street tram tragically ran Gaudí over, at the crossroads between Carrer de Bailén and the Gran Vía in the centre of Gaudi's adult home and favourite city, Barcelona.

Throughout his life Gaudí had avoided attention, particularly from the media and their cameras. Few photographs of the architect existed, which meant he was not an instantly recognisable figure to the people on the streets of Barcelona that day. As he lay injured and anonymous, the gathering crowd were unaware that this was the revered architect himself.

Gaudí's nonconformist nature had progressively become more apparent towards the end of his life, which is reflected in his apparently dishevelled appearance on the day of the fatal accident. Taxi drivers in the local district even refused to take what they thought was an injured vagrant to the hospital, and were later fined for not assisting a wounded man.


The seclusion and decline of Gaudí may have been caused by a series of tragic events that began in 1912 with the death of his only other living relative, his favourite niece and constant companion, Rosa Egea. Over the next ten years Gaudí suffered the loss of a number of close friends and colleagues, a series of economic crises endangered the construction of the Sagrada Familia, and construction of the Colonia Güell was definitively interrupted.

The final blow came in 1918 with the death of his best friend and patron, Eusebi Güell. These distressing events affected Gaudí on a deeply emotional level, which did not limit his energy, or need to work. On the day of the accident Gaudí was taking his regular, daily walk to his most massive and awesome creation, the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí died in hospital 5 days after the accident on June 12, 1926, at the age of 74. Huge crowds gathered in Barcelona for Gaudí's funeral, lining the streets to pay final homage to a man that had become one of the world's greatest and most unique architects. His body was respectfully buried in the crypt of the stunning Sagrada Familia to mark the fact that he had worked on the cathedral for most of his adult life.