El Loco de la catedral

I saw many a beautiful church while I was in Spain. But by far the most unique and perplexing cathedral I ever came across was that designed by Justo Gallego Martinez, who has been dubbed "El Loco" by some because of his sheer insanity in building a monstrous cathedral that graces the outskirts of Madrid.

Don Justo began building this cathedral in 1963. As a young man he joined a monastery, but was kicked out when he contracted tuberculosis. Wanting to serve God, he promised to build a shrine in honor of the Lady of the Pillar if ever he recovered. Thus after his recovery he began building the cathedral on land he had inherited from his parents and has been working on it ever since.

Everything he has built so far has been done completely by hand and almost all by himself, with some help from family and volunteers. With no formal training in architecture or construction and no formal plans for the building, Don Justo simply builds whatever inspires him and with whatever scrap material he can find. Rusty nails, scraps of metal, large slabs of unused wood and tiles, and a mishmash of jugs, tubes, tools, and unused materials are scattered throughout the place. The remnants of ideas that were meant to be remain unfinished and forgotten about. And everyday Don Justo wakes up at the crack of dawn to start another day's work of building this cathedral.

It is perhaps the ugliest cathedral I have seen and will ever come across in my lifetime. Yet its monstrosity is charming in its own way. The complete hodgepodge of materials is unlike anything I've ever seen, and some of the rough and uneven textures and patterns are visually striking. It's a one-of-a-kind building that's unparalleled in its uniqueness.

Spain, cathedral, Justo Gallego Martinez, orange seats

As you can see, it looks more like an abandoned building left to decay rather than one that is being newly built

Spain, cathedral, Justo Gallego Martinez, disordered bricks