You're standing beside the Sagrada Família Schools, a small brick schoolhouse Antoni Gaudí built for the builders' children.
Last reviewed 5 November 2026 · A three-minute read · 1892–2002
The short answer
Carrer de Sardenya runs beside the Sagrada Família Schools, a wavy-roofed brick schoolhouse Antoni Gaudí built in 1909 for the children of the men constructing the basilica. Burned in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, it was rebuilt twice and, in 2002, dismantled and reconstructed at the corner of Sardenya and Mallorca, where it now hosts an exhibition on Gaudí's methods.
1882 to 1926
A schoolhouse rose beside Gaudí's unfinished church
You're standing beside the Sagrada Família Schools, the wavy-roofed brick schoolhouse Antoni Gaudí put up in 1909 for the children of the men building the church next door.
Just 86 meters away, work on the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family had been going since 1882. He died in 1926, struck by a tram, and is buried in the church's crypt alongside José María Bocabella, the philanthropist who started the whole project, who died in 1892.
1908 to 1909
Gaudí built the school on land meant for a facade
The Sagrada Família schoolhouse itself was ordered by the Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph, the group José María Bocabella had founded back in 1866 to build the church. Its day-to-day driver was Gil Parés, the priest in charge of the site, who ran the school until 1930. Gaudí put the building on ground meant one day for the church's Glory Facade, land he knew would sit empty for years. He paid some of the costs himself. Classes began on November 15, 1909, when the Bishop of Barcelona, Juan José Laguarda y Fenollera, opened the doors. Three classrooms held room for over 150 children, named the Immaculate, the Angel and the Sacred Heart. A fourth room served as a chapel.
Antoni Gaudí was struck by a tram on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes on 7 June 1926, near the Sagrada Família construction site. Gaudí's clothes were worn and he was mistaken for a beggar, so he was not recognised at first. He was taken to the Hospital de la Santa Creu, where he died on 10 June 1926, and was buried in the crypt.
July 1936
Anarchists burned Gaudí's workshop and the school next door
On July 20, 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War, anarchists set fire to Gaudí's workshop next to the schoolhouse. The fire destroyed almost all his paper plans and smashed his plaster models into thousands of pieces, work he had used to design the unfinished church. The schoolhouse itself buckled under the same violence: part of its facade came down, its central beam and pillars warped, and the wooden roof collapsed.
1936 to 1943
Quintana rebuilt the shattered school twice over
In September 1936, with the war still on, a wartime education council hired Francesc Quintana to rebuild the school. Quintana finished the work in July 1937. When Gaudí's longtime deputy Domingo Sugrañes died in 1938, Quintana took over direction of the whole basilica project, starting with restoring the crypt, which had also burned, along with what could be saved of Gaudí's models. Quintana returned to patch up the school again in 1943.
2002
Workers dismantled the school and rebuilt it nearby
In 2002, as construction pushed forward on the church's Passion Facade, workers dismantled the schoolhouse block by block. They rebuilt it at the southern corner of the site, on the corner of Carrer de Sardenya and Carrer de Mallorca, close to where you're standing now. It has stood there ever since, now holding an exhibition called Gaudí's Workshop, about how he built the things he designed.
In Barcelona's long history, this ground has carried other names before Gaudí's. John II of Aragon died in the city in 1479, and centuries earlier, in 1071, Almodis de la Marche died here too. Constance of Sicily died in Barcelona in 1302. These deaths mark Barcelona as a place people have died in for a thousand years before this church rose beside you.
The street itself has had a quieter, more recent history. A fire broke out on Carrer de Sardenya in September 2025, one of several reported around the city that week. In December 2025, the city began work replacing the sidewalk along this block, from Carrer del Consell de Cent to Avinguda Diagonal, widening it and adding accessible street furniture, with the work expected to finish by February 2026.
2026 and now
The relocated schoolhouse still stands beside the unfinished basilica
The schoolhouse stands today as it did after its last move in 2002, its wavy brick roof catching the light the way it did for the builders' children in 1909. The basilica beside it, started in 1882, still is not finished. Gaudí rests in its crypt, next to Bocabella, the bookseller who dreamed the whole thing up. A short walk from here, the Sagrada Família (Barcelona Metro) sits about 600 feet away, named for the church that has outlived everyone who built it.
The schoolhouse's brick walls and curved roof still stand on the corner of Sardenya and Mallorca, open as a small exhibition on Gaudí's workshop.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Deep time
The bedrock under your feet is Pleistocene alluvium—sediment laid down by the rivers and streams that shaped the flat plain of Barcelona over the last 2.5 million years. Sandstone and limestone from the Devonian period lie deeper still, testimony to ancient seas that covered this ground long before humans arrived.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Macrostrat
Medieval
800-801
During the Reconquista, the city changed hands between Christian and Muslim powers. A siege in the early ninth century saw Barcelona become a contested frontier town between the Frankish Empire and al-Andalus.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia - Siege of Barcelona (Reconquista)
985
The raids of the Umayyad general Almanzor brought devastation to the city. The sack was one of many attacks that ravaged Barcelona during the volatile medieval centuries.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia - Sack of Barcelona
Early modern
June 7-10, 1640
During Corpus Christi celebrations, a riot broke out in Sant Andreu de Palomar and spread into Barcelona itself. The uprising became known as the 'Corpus of Blood' and triggered the Reapers' War, a conflict that would consume Catalonia for years.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia - Corpus de Sang
1713-1714
Between 1713 and 1714, Barcelona endured one of the longest sieges in European history as Archduke Charles of Austria and the Grand Alliance fought Franco-Spanish forces. The city's walls and streets became a battleground, and the siege ended with the Treaty of Utrecht remaking the map of Europe.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia - Siege of Barcelona (1713–1714)
Modern
1860s onward
The grid of streets you see was laid out as part of Ildefons Cerdà's ambitious urban plan to modernize Barcelona. The Eixample district became a showcase of Catalan Modernism, with architects like Gaudí creating buildings that made it one of Europe's most distinctive neighborhoods.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia - Sagrada Família (neighborhood)
1892
Bocabella founded the association that commissioned the basilica in 1866 and spent his life bringing the project to reality. He was buried in the crypt of the basilica he had envisioned, just steps from where the schools were built seventeen years later.
The small school building stood on Carrer de Sardenya for the children of workers constructing the Sagrada Família basilica. Gaudí created a masterpiece of simple efficiency: a 10-by-20-meter rectangular structure with three classrooms, a chapel, and undulating brick walls that gave it both lightness and strength. The building inspired architects worldwide, including Le Corbusier and Santiago Calatrava.
Gaudí, the architect who designed the schools and devoted the last years of his life to the basilica, died on June 7, 1926, after being struck by a tram near the construction site. He was buried in the crypt of the basilica he had transformed into his life's work.
The Sagrada Família Schools were set ablaze at the start of the Spanish Civil War on July 20, 1936. The fire collapsed part of the facade, deformed pillars, and destroyed the wooden roof. The building was later reconstructed in sections between 1936 and 1937 under architect Francesc Quintana with limited funds.
The architect's own workshop, located next to the Sagrada Família near Carrer de Sardenya, caught fire during the Spanish Civil War. Almost all of Gaudí's paper plans and drawings were lost in the flames, destroying irreplaceable records of his design process.
The Barcelona Metro's L5 line brought a station to serve the basilica and the surrounding neighborhood, making it one of the city's most accessible landmarks and a central hub for pilgrims and visitors.
When construction of the basilica's Glory Facade finally began, the schools had to move. The entire building was carefully dismantled in blocks in 2002 and reconstructed at the southern corner of the site, at the intersection of Carrer de Sardenya and Carrer de Mallorca, where it now houses an exhibition about Gaudí's construction methods.
The ground beside the schoolhouse was land set aside for the basilica's future Glory Facade, which Gaudí knew would stand empty for years, so he built the school there in 1909.
What happened to the school during the Spanish Civil War?
On 20 July 1936, anarchists set fire to Gaudí's nearby workshop at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The same violence brought down part of the schoolhouse's facade, warped its pillars, and destroyed its wooden roof.
Who built the Sagrada Família Schools?
Antoni Gaudí designed and built the schoolhouse in 1909 for the children of workers constructing the Sagrada Família basilica, paying some of the costs himself.
Where is the schoolhouse now?
In 2002, the building was dismantled block by block and reconstructed at the southern corner of the site, at the corner of Carrer de Sardenya and Carrer de Mallorca, where it now houses an exhibition called Gaudí's Workshop.
Where is Antoni Gaudí buried?
Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 after being struck by a tram and was buried in the crypt of the Sagrada Família, alongside José María Bocabella, the philanthropist who founded the project.
Who rebuilt the school after the fire?
Francesc Quintana was hired in September 1936 to rebuild the school, finishing the work in July 1937, and he returned to patch it up again in 1943.
