According to Antoni Vives, former Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia's global significance comes not from universal design principles, but from its profound rootedness in Catalan culture. In conversation with France 24, Vives describes the basilica as a bridge connecting the intensely local with the timeless universal, the spiritual with the tangible. Gaudí's architectural genius, he argues, wasn't in reaching for worldwide appeal, but in so completely and authentically expressing his own place and time that it resonates far beyond Barcelona.

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