Sculptor dedicates half century to Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia

In Barcelona, Spain, Sotoo Etsurō began working as a stone carver on the Sagrada Familia in 1978 and has continued for nearly fifty years.

He initially traveled to Europe after graduating from Kyoto City University of Arts in Japan, intending to study stone carving for only three months. After finding the unfinished Sagrada Familia, he secured an apprenticeship with Isidre Puig Boada, a disciple of the original architect Antoni Gaudí.

Sotoo worked under two of Gaudí’s direct disciples, learning from their devotion to the project and gaining insight into the architect’s original vision, which was complicated by the destruction of many plans during the Spanish Civil War. He first contributed to the Passion Facade, carving plant details high above the ground, and later restored sculptures on the Portal of the Rosary, a doorway completed during Gaudí’s lifetime but damaged in the war.

Throughout his career, Sotoo incorporated elements of Japanese aesthetics into his work. He drew inspiration from the Japanese word for “leaf” to inform carvings on the Nativity Facade, believing Gaudí intended the sculptures to represent growth and wisdom. Even after becoming chief sculptor in 2012, Sotoo maintained that the Sagrada Familia will never be truly finished, as it is meant to be a spiritual tool for imperfect people, and its completion would only occur with human spiritual perfection.

He recently completed an ambo for the Duomo of Florence, Italy, focusing on its function as a tool for worship.