Justo Gallego Martínez

Historia

Justo Gallego Martínez is a former monk who has been constructing a cathedral-like building on his own in the town of Mejorada del Campo in the Community of Madrid, Spain, since 1961. Don Justo has named the building Nuestra Señora del Pilar. It has neither any planning permissions, nor has it the benediction of any church authority.Life and inspirationGallego Martínez was a farmer. His mother, a Roman Catholic, was very pious. His school education was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. At the age of ten he witnessed communist forces, who were fighting Franco, shooting priests and ransacking the church in Mejorada del Campo; the events left him with little respect for the town’s socialist administration. As a young man, he joined a Trappist monastery but had to leave in 1961, after eight years, when he contracted tuberculosis and his health deteriorated in the monastic regime. He began to build a cathedral on a plot of land he had inherited from his parents. He had promised that if he recovered from the tuberculosis which had struck him down, he would build a shrine in honour of Our Lady of the Pillar, to whom he had prayed."The Cathedral"On 12 October 1961, Gallego commenced the building work. There are no formal plans for the building. Gallego Martínez initially just levelled the ground and mapped out the ground-works on site. The building has evolved over time in response to opportunity and inspiration. One inspiration has been St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, the White House in the US, and various castles and churches in Spain.

"El Centro Social Catedral de Justo, en Mejorada del Campo, Madrid, es un edifico construido a lo largo de 60 años por un solo hombre, Justo Gallego, sin formación en arquitectura ni experiencia en construcción, en honor a la Virgen. Esta obra ha sido elogiada por expertos y arquitectos, ya que es un ejemplo de sostenibilidad, porque para su construcción se han utilizado muchos materiales de desecho y reciclados.En 2021, Justo Gallego decidió donar su catedral a Mensajeros de la Paz para terminar su obra, un sueño hecho realidad, y que ésta se convierta en un lugar de paz y acogida para la oración, para recibir a todas las personas y un lugar de encuentro para distintas religiones: un pequeño Hospital de campaña."