In the early 1950s, the young Spanish monk Justo Gallego Martinez fell sick to tuberculosis. While on his sick bed he promised himself that if he were to come out alive he would dedicate the rest of his life to build a cathedral in honor of Nuestra Senora del Pilar. Miraculously he escaped death and began building, in Mejorada del Campo, a little town 20 km away from Madrid. Without any professional help nor any architectural education he started a construction that would span almost half a century, working all year long, every day of the week, apart from Sundays. He is now 84 years old, in his own words the cathedral still needs 10 good years of work, though he is not sure to see it one day fully complete, he is satisfied.