This project undoubtedly became the most significant achievement in August Font’s career as an architect.
The Cathedral of Barcelona was begun in 1298. By the early 15th century, discussions began about how the façade would be designed. A master builder from Rouen, Normandy, named Carlí Galter or Galtés, created a design for the main façade that was never executed, likely due to lack of funds. As a result, the façade remained a simple wall with a doorway, windows, and steps, with no harmony with the rest of the magnificent Gothic cathedral. Similarly, the lantern tower was completed only up to the base of the drum.
In the 19th century, there was an urgent need to finally complete the cathedral. The initiative came from the banker Manel Girona, who tried unsuccessfully to secure funding and then decided to finance the works himself. Later, his children, Manel and Anna, did the same for the lantern tower. The selection of the project was highly controversial: Girona himself had drawn the proposed design, endorsed by Josep Oriol Mestres, the cathedral architect and a personal friend. Public opinion preferred the design of Joan Martorell, far more ornate, majestic, and vertically emphasised. However, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, responsible for settling such disputes, rejected Martorell’s design on rather weak grounds and chose the design submitted by Mestres and drawn by Girona.
Inspired by Master Carlí’s original concept, Josep Oriol Mestres began working with August Font, who was his assistant. Construction finally began on 4 July 1887 and was completed on 12 February 1890, the feast day of Saint Eulalia. It should be noted that the façade was not executed exactly as we see it today: originally, it included decoration on the jambs with the apostles, Christ in the main mullion, a tympanum with openwork tracery, archivolts with the 24 elders, angels and prophets, a gable with a lobed rose window, and buttresses on each side adorned with various sculptures crowned with canopies and gables. However, when the scaffolding was removed, modifications were made in response to criticism. Josep Oriol Mestres had passed away, and August Font assumed the role of cathedral architect. He added the two lateral towers and a series of decorative elements to enrich the façade. Manel Girona pledged to fund these enhancements.
After the banker’s death, his children financed the lantern tower, with construction beginning in 1906 and finishing in 1912. This work, too, was not free from controversy, as the final result included many elements reminiscent of the Martorell design, which had been highly praised by the people of Barcelona but swiftly rejected by the Royal Academy.
