Former monk Justo Gallego Martinez spent the last 60 years constructing a mammoth cathedral in Mejorada del Campo near Madrid. The 96-year-old was single-handedly creating one of the world's most astonishing buildings from recycled materials, despite having no previous construction experience. However, his death in November 2021, before the cathedral's completion, left his life-long project hanging in the balance. Click or scroll on to uncover the story behind this remarkable man and his beloved cathedral...
The incredible tale of Justo Gallego Martinez, known as Don Justo, begins at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 when he decided to give up his career as a farm labourer in order to devote himself to God. At the age of 27, he joined the Santa Maria de Huerta monastery in Soria, northern Spain, as a novice monk. He spent eight happy years there before his life at the monastery was brought to an early end.
In 1961, at the age of 36, Don Justo contracted tuberculosis and was forced to leave his religious life behind. Left with no alternative, he returned to his hometown of Mejorada del Campo, where he was fortunate enough to have inherited a piece of farmland – the perfect building plot. Devastated by his spiritual setback, the former monk decided to continue his religious journey in his own unique way...
Don Justo made a promise that should he regain his health, he would build a cathedral on his newly acquired piece of land. The building would not only be Don Justo's new full-time job but the ultimate offering to God. He also decided that should the build go ahead, he would devote the property to the Virgin Mary, to whom he prayed during the worst moments of his illness.
Don Justo kept his promise and once he had fully recovered, he began immediate work on his ambitious self build project. With no architectural knowledge, construction experience or any real budget to speak of, he began groundwork preparations a few weeks later and laid the very first brick on the site on the 12th October 1961, a special date in the Hispanic calendar that's dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Without preparing any architectural designs or even basic sketches, Don Justo attacked construction head-on, seeing the role as his life's calling. He had no set idea of how the cathedral might look upon completion but kept a rough image in his mind of how he wanted the building to be laid out. He would later tell the English architect George Clarke that he always kept the building's measures, proportions and harmony in mind.
Despite his limited knowledge, Don Justo was determined to build the cathedral properly and took his design inspiration from both neo-classical architecture and traditional Spanish fortifications. He's even said to have been influenced by St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. Yet in the documentary, The Madman and the Cathedral, Don Justo confirmed that his biggest source of inspiration has always been God himself.
Many thought the ex-monk to be mad and even more believed he would never make headway on the project, but Don Justo proved everybody wrong. He plowed his family inheritance into the build, selling off his personal belongings and even his own house in order to keep the work moving. Because of his lack of construction expertise and financial support, he was forced to develop some thrifty and unusual building techniques.
Not only impressive in scale but highly innovative too, this project could well be seen as a sustainable build. Don Justo created his own makeshift tools, used his hands for some of the plasterwork and turned anything he could find into eco building materials, including old rubber tyres and metal chemical waste canisters, which he used to form the cathedral's towering columns.
After working alone for many years, Don Justo started to gain local attention from companies and individuals fascinated by his grit and determination. Thanks to his local celebrity status, the ex-monk was lucky enough to be given leftovers from residential schemes and recycled scraps from nearby factories and building sites. Some local companies also helped him with financial donations, which allowed him to keep his passion project alive.
As for the construction work itself, Don Justo learnt on the job, spending his spare time reading books about churches and medieval castles in order to feed his imagination and educate himself on traditional building techniques. Going it alone for over 10 years without the use of professional scaffolding or even a crane, the former monk saw some progress by 1975 when the initial outline of the structure began to take shape.
As more people heard about his inspiring story, volunteers and supporters offered help in any way they could, assisting Don Justo with small donations or a few hours of labour here and there. The former monk's six nephews also helped him with various important tasks, including installing the dome's precarious structural girders. By 1992, the shell of the cathedral was in place and in 1998 a local man, Angel Lopez Sanchez, joined the project as Don Justo's main assistant.
A skilled craftsman, Angel created the cathedral’s beautiful, bespoke stained-glass windows, which were formed from reclaimed bits of glass gifted by a local business. Angel also took on responsibility for the property's floors, which he made from scrap marble slabs, freeing Don Justo up to work on the cathedral's main decorative feature: its magnificent central dome.
The cathedral's dome is definitely its most iconic feature. Modelled on the one topping St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Don Justo's replica is 131 feet tall and has a staggering 39-foot diameter. The amateur builder also constructed a series of small chapels, cloisters and lodgings opposite the main cathedral.
Akin to a fairy tale castle, Don Justo’s magnificent cathedral is unlike any other in the world. Decorated with unusual turrets and towers, the façade features exposed brickwork and rustic, handmade plaster arches. Formed from factory castoffs and surplus materials, every single brick used to construct the building was kindly donated to Don Justo by a nearby brickworks, helping him to save thousands of euros in construction costs.
In perfect contrast to the rugged brickwork of the façade, the cathedral features numerous elegant exterior domes that sit atop prominent pillars. Finished with second-hand scrap metal sheeting and donated glass that's been carefully crafted into beautiful decorative elements, these architectural embellishments bring the building to life, shimmering under the Spanish sun.
Step inside and the sheer scale of this self built monument is overwhelming. Covering a colossal 24,000 square feet of interior space, the cathedral's main nave scales two storeys, while Don Justo's impressive homemade dome takes centre stage. Everywhere you look there are beautiful religious paintings and mosaics, many of which were handmade from reclaimed materials.
The cathedral follows the general outline of any traditional Christian cathedral, featuring everything you might expect, including a bell tower, an altar, various cloisters and arcades. There are also numerous hand-poured concrete staircases leading up to secret rooms and floors, including the roof. From the top floor, you can take in Don Justo's giant courtyard, which is beautifully crowned by dozens of handmade cupolas.
A blend of classic refined architecture and innovative DIY, this inspiring cathedral is a testament to Don Justo's talent for breathing new life into old discarded materials. The former monk would rise at half three in the morning, six days a week, to work on the cathedral, spending around 10 hours on-site grafting away and only taking Sundays off to rest.
The complex features a baptistery, a parish hall and an extensive crypt located below the building's dominant nave, where Don Justo wished to be laid to rest. Sadly, on 28 November 2021, Don Justo passed away at the age of 96. He had accepted that it would be impossible for him to finish his life-long project and his dying wish was that someone else would take over the reins and finish the job in the wake of his death.
This 3D model shows how the finished cathedral might look. The two prominent towers were to be developed to soar high above the current building, acting as a beacon to welcome worshippers. Don Justo hoped to gain some pews for his congregation, as well as a lectern, a pulpit and an organ to accompany his marble font, which lies in the centre of the cathedral's nave.
Possibly one of the world's most incredible self build projects, this image was captured in late 2019 and shows how the interior looked after almost 60 years. Yet sadly the cathedral was threatened with demolition and according to Don Justo, the Catholic Church refused to acquire it in support of the former monk's ambitions, stipulating that the building was too dangerous for people to use. But was help at hand?
Back in 2018, a creative start-up from the UK used the cathedral to host an exhibition of technology and art. Afterward, the company's founders offered to help Don Justo and Ángel complete the building safely. The following year, they set up the One Man Cathedral campaign to help Don Justo raise £36,000 ($45k), the estimated cost of making the property legally safe for the public, and since then, most of the building's marble floors have been completed.
In 2019, the cathedral hosted its first-ever Sunday Mass service, which had been one of Don Justo's ambitions for the building. In the documentary The Madman and the Cathedral Don Justo said: “I content myself everyday...it makes me happy to think of what I have already accomplished. I will continue, till the end of my days, to keep working on the cathedral." And he was true to his word, continuing to tackle the incredible construction until his passing.
Don Justo's plight garnered plenty of international recognition over the years, having been featured in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and interviewed by the likes of The New York Times. Don Justo and his cathedral also appeared in a season of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces, in which the acclaimed architect described his journey as “a small build dream that became the project of a lifetime”.
Amazingly, Don Justo never actually applied for official planning permission to build his cathedral and no formal permits have ever been awarded. Yet the town authorities gave Don Justo their unofficial blessing, after naming the street on which the building sits "Calle Antonio Gaudí", after the Spanish architect who famously passed away partway through building the Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona, a structure that is still incomplete to this day, much like Justo's legacy.
In May of 2021, Justo and Ángel donated the cathedral to an organisation known as Mensajeros de la Paz, or 'Messengers of Peace,' a Catholic NGO that helps the poor in more than 50 countries, founded by Padre Ángel (pictured). The Guardian reported: "The organisation swiftly moved in to the cathedral, cleaning up the mess, smoothing over cracks, reinforcing arches and putting up walls. They also sent in some of Spain’s top structural engineers." Apparently, the engineers were "pleasantly surprised" at Justo's ability despite his lack of construction knowledge. “It’s as if he’s invented architecture in his head,” one of them stated.
Standing proud in the heart of this Spanish community, the cathedral is a remarkable reminder of what can be achieved with unwavering perseverance and a little faith. As for regrets, Don Justo had none. In fact, when speaking to the BBC some years ago, he said: “If I lived my life again, I’d build this cathedral again, only bigger". Justo Gallego Martínez died on 28 November 2021.
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