Justo's Cathedral
The Justo Cathedral is a building of great proportions, similar to a great Christian cathedral, located in Mejorada del Campo (Madrid, Spain). It was being built as a self-construction project by a single person, Justo Gallego Martínez, until his death at the age of 96; when he donated it to Messengers of Peace to finish it.
Justo began to build it on a farmland owned by his family on October 12, 1961, after being expelled from the Cistercian monastery of Santa María de Huerta, in Soria, for being ill with tuberculosis.
When his healing occurred, as a promise, he decided to thank God and the Virgin with the construction of this work. Little by little, using the family patrimony that he had, selling his land and also thanks to private donations, he built the cathedral.
Justo Gallego dedicated more than 50 years to building the work until his death; With the exception of some sporadic help, he did everything with his own hands, without having any training related to construction. In fact, his primary studies were interrupted at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. There are no plans or official project of the cathedral.
This is a building with remarkable architectural elements. Although its builder calls it a cathedral, and it is known as such, it is not really a temple, as it is not consecrated or recognized as such by the diocese of Alcalá de Henares.
The inhabitants of Mejorada del Campo know the work as "Justo's Cathedral", being the construction for which this town is known located 20 kilometers from Madrid. In 2005, an advertising campaign for the Aquarius drink spread the existence of the work internationally. The Museum of Modern Art in New York showed photos of this original architectural work in one of its exhibitions for the 2003-2004 season.
The Cathedral
It occupies an area of 4,740 square meters. Until now, the cathedral measures 35 meters in height calculated from the level of the ground floor to the crowning height of the dome.
It has all the elements of a classical cathedral: crypt, cloister, stairway, arcades, porticoes, spiral staircases, etc. It is dedicated to the patron saint of the Civil Guard, the Virgen del Pilar, and built with materials donated by companies and individuals. Most of the construction materials that Justo Gallego uses are recycled. He uses both objects from daily life and materials discarded by construction companies and a nearby brick factory. To make the columns he uses old gasoline drums as molds, for the pillars he uses plastic cans filled with concrete and a bicycle wheel acts as a pulley.
The interior
It is a temple with a classical basilica plan. Of the three naves, the central one is wider than the others, following the traditional layout of a Catholic cathedral. All of them are covered by barrel vaults, currently under construction, so you can see how to do them, with curved wires and concrete. To make the roofs, Justo Gallego used a light material, like gravel, which is currently used with concrete in contemporary constructions to give buildings more lightness. Likewise, the central nave has a clerestory and will probably have a gallery that will surround the entire surface to be able to access the entire perimeter at that height. The head is organized in a large apse where the altar is located. Outside you can see apses and towers. In the central part of the cathedral, the dome stands on pendentives. The roof was made with superimposed sheets, like the barrel vault of the nave. The walls are perforated so that light penetrates, in relation to the medieval idea of relating Christ to light. All of them would be decorated with stained glass windows.
The inner courtyard
In the interior patio there is concrete, wires and iron, arranged in a special way to give the different shapes. One of the things that stand out the most are the bricks: it can be seen throughout the cathedral that the “older” bricks, those that are lower down, are irregular in shape and joined together in a complicated fit. These defective bricks were collected by Justo Gallego in a nearby factory that discarded them.
The dome
Because of the complexity to erect it, the dome of the cathedral is one of the most striking architectural elements. It can be seen very well from a privileged area of the previous patio.
There are a large number of busts that decorate the upper part of the cathedral next to the dome, reminiscent of the sculptures that were placed on Renaissance buildings.
The Crypt
Like many of the existing cathedrals in Spain, the Cathedral of Justo has a crypt accessible both from the interior and from the patio through a side door.
Murals
The murals of the Mejorada del Campo Cathedral were made by the painter Carlos Romano Silveira in plastic paint. He began the building's murals at the age of 19 and abandoned them at 20 since Justo Gallego did not allow him to continue. At first he wanted passages from the Old Testament to be painted, but the painter suggested that they be from the life of the Virgin Mary.
Carlos Romano was born on May 15, 1985 and currently divides his career between Spain and Mexico. The painter made one of his last years of studies at the restoration school compatible with the paintings of Mejorada del Campo, and he has always recognized these murals as his personal baptism in painting.
The Right Wing
You can see many columns made in a totally handmade way. With large cylindrical buckets of paint used as molds, Justo Gallego filled them with concrete to give the desired shape and, letting them dry, took out the blocks and joined them with iron and cables.
The railings and some joints are made with ironwork that seems to have been unfolded when collected from landfills, joined with concrete, and surrounded by pieces of electricity cable or pieces of rubber.
In this part of the land you can see several striking buildings. For example, one used as a warehouse, with a roof in several ships with a double slope each, like a sea of sheet metal.
Based on Justo Gallego's origin, we can intuit that it could be a corral or even a barn, since in his original house, Justo had these rooms and their plan would correspond.[citation required] It is a square building, of great proportions and diaphanous, for which reason it could well be a place for cattle, straw or firewood for the cold.
Next to it there are also other dependencies much less built. One of them was the resting place of his summer assistants and, after this, there is a stone path to access the main door.
Documentaries
- The Window He Believed in God, coproduction Spain - Scotland, production year 2000, Address José Ramón Pedroza, Production Zacarías Copping, Guion José Ramón Pedroza, Jorge A Morales. duration 38 min.
- Discovery Channel Latin America, in its "Moments Discovery" section among commercials, issued during 2006 a documentary of approximately three minutes, where Don Justo explains the visions in his cathedral and mentions his little experience with engineering or architecture, exposing his faith as the engine of the project.
- Be Right. The cathedral of all. The TV Novosti channel recorded a 27-minute documentary in 2016.
- The Temptations of Righteous, documentary (Spain, 2021). Guion and address: Miryan Pedrero and Diego Herrero Lamo de Espinosa. Duration: 65 min.
- Pan Seco, Documentary (Spain, 2020). Address: Román Cadafalch and Cadhla Kennedy. Duration: 74 min. Available on the Filmin platform.
- The Cathedral, documentary (Slovakia, 2022). Address: Denis Dobrovoda. Duration: 87 min.