In the wake of Brexit, UK-sourced stone has been chosen to complete part of Spain’s landmark Sagrada Familia Basilica.
Marshalls Stone, the Yorkshire-based company whose claim to fame is that it has literally paved every London street on the Monopoly board, has been appointed to supply natural stone to help complete the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona after more than 100 years of development.
Construction of the Spanish basilica began in 1882 and is slated for completion in 2026.
Marshalls Stone has already supplied Sagrada Familia with 1000 tonnes of stone from its Stanton Moor Quarry since 2018. The majority of Marshalls’ stone will be used on the largest of the three “Glory Fačades” located outside the basilica.
The company’s natural stone product is just one of three British stones to be chosen for the completion of the basilica.
“We’re so proud to be working with the team at Sa Grada Familia to supply stone for this beautiful building,” Marshalls’ chief executive Martyn Coffey said. “The team at Sa Grada Familia are likely to start cutting the stone at the end of 2021, so it is a while until we will see it in situbut it will be a very proud moment when we do.”
Marshalls already has a track record of working on iconic landmarks, after the company was honoured with its own version of the Monopoly game board in 2010. Back then, the company laid claim to having successfully paved every street and property on the Monopoly board from locally quarried stone – from Mayfair to Marylebone and Liverpool Street to Leicester Square.
“We already have a reputation for having paved every location on the London Monopoly board so it’s fantastic to add such an iconic European landmark to the list,” Coffey said.
The Sagrada Familia was designed by Spanish/Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi and began construction in the 1880s. Gaudi devoted the remainder of his life to its design and construction before his death in 1926 and was subsequently buried in the basilica’s crypt. Construction has continued intermittently since, with the Spanish Civil War (during which the basilica was damaged by revolutionaries) and other bureaucratic delays hindering its progress. Advancements in computer aided design and computerised numerical control have in the past two decades hastened the basicilia’s construction which passed the midpoint in 2010.