BARCELONA—Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia, is stirring up controversy 125 years after its inception, reports The Times (London). A group of approximately 400 "Gaudi purists" is calling for a halt on work on the cathedral, as it nears completion. The members of the group, which includes architects, artists, film directors, and art gallerists, insist that construction should have stopped with Gaudi’s death in 1926, claiming that the structure is now unrecognizable as his vision.

Manual Borja-Villel, director of the Reina Sofla art museum in Madrid, said, “What the tourists see today is just a caricature of Gaudi’s work. This is just part of making Gaudi’s work and our society more banal for the pursuit of tourism.” Borja-Villel is one of many prominent Spanish intellectuals who have signed a manifesto protesting the ongoing construction.

Oriol Bohighas, an architect who helped to transform Barcelona for the 1992 Olympic Games, added, “They haven’t allowed Gaudi any peace, but have profaned his works.

Maintaining Gaudi’s original vision has been a struggle for the many architects who have attempted to take on the historic building. Gaudi was known for changing plans as he went along, and the original plans were barely salvaged after the Spanish Civil War, during which anarchists attempted to destroy the structure.

The work is estimated to be completed in 20 years, at the latest.