Eduard Toda i Güell (Reus 1855 - Poblet 1941)

Eduard Toda i Güell was born in Reus in 1855. He was nephew and godson of Josep Güell i Mercader, the representative maximum of the local republicanism and right-hand man of Emilio Castelar, none of the Spanish republicans. He studied in the Piarists of Reus and there he was made inseparable friend of Josep Ribera and of Anton Gaudí, in spite of the difference of age. The three friends made the magazine "El Arlequín" and, during the summer of 1870, an utopian project of restoration of the big monastery of Poblet. Eduard Toda collaborated in the republican press of Reus. He studied Laws in Madrid and, thanks to the influence of Emilio Castelar, he entered in the diplomatic career and he traveled to China in 1876. In 1882 he came back to Catalonia and he incorporated into the movement of the Renaixença. There met again with Gaudí in the Association Catalanist of Scientific Excursions and in summer of 1883 they did an excursion to the Roussillon and the Empordà. He traveled afterwards to Egypt, Italy and Finland; and he was a secretary of the commission that negotiated the peace of the Spanish Monarchy with the United States of America on finishing the war between both of 1898. He made a considerable fortune in London and tackled the restoration of the monastery of Escornalbou, for what asked for advice his friend Gaudí. He came back definitively to Catalonia in 1918. By request of gaudí, he did a donation of three thousand pesetas for the works of the Sagrada Família. From 1920, he promoted the effective reconstruction of Poblet, where he passed the last years of the life, until his death in 1941. He published numerous books and articles.