Sagrada Família Schools the commission of the Devout of San José which was presided over by Josep Maria Bocabella, founder of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. Its principal promoter was Gil Parés, the first parish priest of the Sagrada Familia, who was the school's principal until 1930. At first he followed the pedagogic method of Andrés Manjón, founder of the school of Ave Maria de Granada, but from 1915 on he applied the Montessori method. The schools were inaugurated on November 15, 1909 by the bishop of Barcelona, Juan José Laguarda y Fenollera. It was originally located on ground destined to face
Sagrada Família stability. Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art", and Paul Goldberger describes it as "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages". The Basilica of the Sagrada Família was the inspiration of a bookseller, Josep Maria Bocabella, founder of Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph). After a visit to the Vatican in 1872, Bocabella returned from Italy with the intention of building a church inspired by the basilica at