For more than 60 years, the former monk Justo Gallego has been building a cathedral with ancient materials on the outskirts of Madrid, which he never finished.
The 96-year-old passed away over the weekend, but left the unfinished campus in Majorda del Cambo to a charity run by a priest, promising to complete his loving work.
Galego was on land he inherited from his family in the mid-1930s when he contracted tuberculosis, forcing Tropist to leave the monastery.
Today, the “Catedral de Justo” covers an area of 4,700 square meters (50,600 square feet) and consists of a swimming pool, two swimming pools and 12 towers, although the central dome still lacks an envelope.
It used bricks, wood, and other materials removed from the old works, as well as donations that started pouring in as soon as the project became known.
The pillars of the building are made of stacked oil drums, while the windows are linked by pieces of stained glass.
“Recycling is fashionable now, but he used it when no one was talking about it 60 years ago,” said Juan Carlos Arroyo, an engineer and architect at the engineering firm Calder.
The charity that acquired the Messengers of Peace project commissioned the company to assess the structural integrity of the building without a license.
– Without plan –
“The system has withstood major weather events throughout its construction,” Arroyo told AFP, predicting that it would only require a few “minor surgical interventions.”
Renowned British architect Norman Foster visited the site in 2009, when he came to Spain to receive an award, and told Galco that he was the one who should receive the award, Arroyo added.
Galeko had no formal training in construction and worked without drawing.
In interviews, he reiterated that the details of the cathedral were “in his head” and that “they all come from above.”
The complex is located on Avenida Antoni Gaudi street, named after the architect behind the iconic Sacramento Family Basilica in Barcelona, which has been under construction since 1883.
But unlike the Socrates Family, the Justo Galego Cathedral is not recognized as a place of worship by the Roman Catholic Church.
– ‘Worth seeing’ –
Father Ángel García Rodríguez, a nonconformist priest who leads the peace envoys, wants to transform the Calico building into a place where all beliefs can be incorporated and used to help the poor.
“There are already many cathedrals and many churches, sometimes not people,” he said.
“It will not be an ordinary church, but it will be a community center where people can come to pray or if they face difficulties,” he added.
Father Ángel is famous for running a restaurant that serves food to the homeless in Spain and for running a church in the center of Madrid, where pets can be received and believers can be admitted via iPad.
Inside the Justo Cathedral, volunteers continued to work on the structure, while onlookers walked the grounds looking at the building in the suburbs where there was no constant flow.
“It would be a very beautiful place of worship if we had the means to finish it, especially the materials and the money,” said Ramón Calvo, 74, who visited the stadium with friends.
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