is a balanced history of america that allows us to cry and smile. >> italy is home to two-thirds of the world's cultural treasures, trouble is the country is too broke to keep its historic rooms, churches and monuments from crumbling to dust. >> but now, some of this most treasured and endangered landmarks are being saved not by a government but by a more respected institution: the fashion business. >> what is possible for us to do for the country, we need to do now. >> when pope benedict xvi came to the familia he consecrated the church as a basilica.

was first envisioned by antoni gaudi had it been seen in all of its glory. >> he wanted to write the whole of the history in the catholic faith in one building. i mean, how crazy and how extraordinary and how ambitious that idea is? >> cbs money watch pup date brought to you by: >> glor: good evening. apple and f.b.i. take their encryption battle to congress on tuesday. a new push today for f.a.a. to set limits on how cramped airline seats can be. and warren buffett said this weekend berkshire-hathaway added $15.4 billion to its net worth

i'm jeff glor, cbs news. there is a dangerousinstinct that lives within you.

and in these times, we need that. we need you to rush in, when everyone else is running away. introducing the jeep renegade,

>> pelley: good evening, and welcome to "60 minutes presents." i'm scott pelley. tonight, "preserving the past." we'll explore three memorable buildings, where architecture is honored and history is kept alive. we're going to begin in washington with a museum that has yet to open its doors. 400 years have passed since america's original sin, and still, riots are ignited in the friction between race and justice. as this debate continues, the smithsonian is completing a monumental project, the $500 million national museum of african american history and culture. the idea was authorized by an act of congress, which called it "a tribute to the negro's contribution to the achievements

the words are jarring because the act was written in 1929. as we first told you last spring, building this museum has been a long struggle, just like the story it hopes to tell. beside the monument to washington, a slave-holding president, the museum is breaking free of the ground on the mall's last five acres. eight decades after congress framed a museum on paper, and then failed to fund it, the dream is being written, this time in steel and stone: ten floors-- five above ground, five below; its complexion, rendered in shades of bronze, a building of color against history's white marble. you've been at this nine years now. it's a big job. >> lonnie bunch: well, as i tell people, at 8:00 in the morning, i have the best job in america, and at 2:00 in the morning, it's

in my life. this is a romare bearden from the 1950s. >> pelley: sleepless nights are all in a day's work for the museum's founding director, lonnie bunch, a scholar of the 19th century. >> bunch: clearly, this is... ought to be one of those moments where people are going to sort of reflect, pause. what does it mean once we open? what does it mean in terms of development opportunities? >> pelley: in 2003, president bush signed the law creating the museum. congress put up $250 million, and bunch has raised most of another $270 million. >> bunch: i knew that this is where this museum would have to be, that this is america's front lawn, and this is the place where people come to learn what it means to be an american, and this museum needs to be there. >> pelley: so, we're on the ground floor. this is where the visitors will come in. this will be their first experience in the museum. so, what's going to be here? >> bunch: they will walk in either from the mall or from constitution ave, and they will run into amazing pieces of

>> pelley: when all of this is finally complete, what will america have? >> bunch: america will have a place that allows them to remember-- to remember how much we as a country have been improved, changed, challenged, and made better by the african- american experience. they'll have a place that they can call home, but they'll also have a place that will make them change. >> pelley: but even this place is only space until you fill it. >> oh, my goodness. now, did somebody already look at some of these things for you? >> no. >> no?! >> pelley: seven years ago, the smithsonian began rummaging the attics and basements of america. >> this may have marked a milestone in his life. and what we don't know is what that was. >> but at least it gives me something i can investigate. >> pelley: 3,000 people brought their family history to 16 smithsonian events across the country. >> mary elliott: and this is the early free black family based out of baltimore? >> yes. >> pelley: it sounds like "antiques roadshow."

"antiques roadshow." >> pelley: mary elliott and nancy bercaw are curators. >> elliott: we have experts from across the museum field. experts in conservation. experts who understand about paper, about metals, about you name it-- fabrics, textiles. and they come in and they review objects for the public. >> the coating on this is in pretty good condition. >> some of that looks like it's dried out a little bit. >> and don't put it near the air conditioning unit because that will dry it out too much. >> pelley: how do you convince someone to give up a priceless family heirloom? >> bercaw: do you know what? our museum pitches itself. all we have to do is tell the absolute honest truth. people have been waiting for us. people in america have been waiting for this moment. and so, literally, they just hand us things. >> elliot: and we're very excited like you are. >> pelley: thousands of relics were examined, but only 25 will

this is one of them. >> renee anderson: this was actually a connection we made with the family. mr. jesse burke was an enslaved man, and he was charged with playing this violin and entertaining the slave holder and his guest. >> pelley: this is the smithsonian's warehouse in maryland, where the story is being written. and these are a few of the lines. "received by grigsby e. thomas, the sum of $350 in full payment for a negro boy by the name of jim, about ten years old, this 31st day of december, 1835." jim would have been familiar with these-- shackles dating before 1860, bondage that might have been broken if the keeper of this bible had succeeded in his bloody rebellion. nat turner had said that god commanded him to break the chains. his bible was taken away before his execution.

curating team. >> paul gardullo: i think many of us who know the story of slavery know about nat turner; know about nat turner from the perspective of perhaps a freedom fighter, perhaps a murderer. well, we know this is a religious person. we know this is a person who can read, and when you begin with that, and those ideas, suddenly, the person of nat turner and your understandings of nat turner take on a whole new light. and i look to do that again and again, ways that we can see well-worn stories, stories we think we know, in a new light. >> pelley: you may think you know the story of a boy murdered for whistling at a white woman, until you are confronted with his casket. >> bunch: the story of emmett till is a crucially important story in terms of what it tells us, both about sort of

movement, but also it's a story of his mother, mamie mobley, who was really one of the most powerful people, who said that her son's murder should not be in vain, that it should help to transform america. >> pelley: no one was punished for the murder of emmett till. his body was exhumed in a later investigation, and the original casket was neglected. >> bunch: but then the question was-- would we ever display it? should we ever display it? and i wrestled a lot with it, but then i realized i kept hearing mamie mobley in my head. and she said, "i opened this casket to change the world, to make the world confront the dangers, the power, the ugliness of race in america." >> pelley: a lot of the things that you intend to put on display are going to be hard to look at. >> bunch: what i'm trying to do is find the right tension between moments of sadness and moments of resiliency.

came out of the blue. air force captain matt quy and his wife tina rebuilt an old crop duster, and in curiosity, they sent the serial number to an air force historian. >> matt quy: and he said, "are you sitting down? because i have some news for you." >> pelley: turned out, in 1944, the stearman trained america's first black squadrons, the tuskegee airmen, who flew to fame in world war ii. >> tina quy: i had never really known much about the tuskegee airmen. i'd seen a p-51 plane, but i'd never really, truly understood what it meant. >> matt quy: take your time. >> pelley: before donating the plane, known as a pt-13, the quys carried the last of the airmen back to the air. >> matt quy: and it was just great to sit back in the back seat and look at this real tuskegee airman in a real tuskegee airplane. just magical. >> leo gray: the greatest thrill

seat where you are and watching the ground drop out from underneath me. the pt-13 was the baby that we used to learn how to fly. >> pelley: the smithsonian collected the thoughts of lieutenant colonel leo gray in 2010. >> gray: they said we couldn't fly. but we had the best record of any fighter group in the 15th air force, and probably in the air force itself. we stayed with our bombers, we brought them home as best we could. and we proved that we could fly. >> pelley: time is the enemy of history, so smithsonian conservationists have been working for years restoring america's heritage from textiles to trains. this 1920 railcar had two sections-- "white" and "colored." the same number of seats, but "colored" was compressed in half

jim crow confinement just like the guard tower from the prison in angola, louisiana, notorious for cruelty. >> carlos bustamante: it's about 21 feet tall. and this is cast concrete, so it's an enormous object. >> pelley: from monumental to miniscule, carlos bustamante is the project manager building a place for 33,000 moments in time. >> bustamante: so when you had the railcar, the railcar pieces, the guard tower, and all the support equipment, we had a convoy of about 12 semi-trucks traveling down the road across six states to get here. and it took them about three days. >> pelley: how do you get those things into this building? >> bustamante: so we set up two very, very large cranes. and these cranes are... are rare, there's not a lot of them this size. and we picked up these two objects, and basically brought

grade. >> pelley: the answer is, you don't move these objects into the building, you put these objects in place and you build the building around them? >> bustamante: exactly. there's no other way. >> gardullo: oftentimes, what i'm drawn to are some of the smaller things-- shards of glass that were picked up after the bombing of the 16th street baptist church in birmingham, alabama. and it's finding the balance between the big and the small, scott, that makes this work a challenge and so wonderful. >> pelley: what is something that you desperately want and have not been able to find? >> gardullo: i want willie mays' mitt. ( laughs ) >> pelley: which would be quite a catch to display along with louis armstrong's horn, and chuck berry's horn behind the chrome of his '73 cadillac. there's the welcome of minton's playhouse, which resonated to

ali's headgear, pristine condition. and this firemen's head gear, a revolutionary invention in 1914 by mechanical genius garrett morgan. do you think the country's ready for this now? >> bunch: i don't think america is ever ready to have the conversation around race, based on what we see around the landscape, whether it's ferguson or other places, that people are really ready to shine the light on all the dark corners of the american experience. but i hope this museum will help, in a small way, to do that. >> pelley: this is not the american museum of slavery? >> bunch: this is not the museum of tragedy. it is not the museum of difficult moments. it is the museum that says, "here is a balanced history of america that allows us to cry

>>pelley: on september 24th, america's first black president will cut the ribbon to the smithsonians' first national museum of african american history and culture in washington d.c. >>announcer: see what maryanne wore at the lincoln memorial and a copy of the emancipation declaration at: 60minutesovertime.com. look, the wolf was huffing and puffing. like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol.

increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (children giggle) symbicort. breathe better starting within 5 minutes. call or go online to learn more about a free trial offer. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. woman: it's been a journey to get where i am. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track. and through it all, my retirement never got left behind. so today, i'm prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be. every someday needs a plan.

in life there are things you wanna touch and some you just don't. the kohler touchless toilet.

>> pelley: it's estimated that italy is home to two-thirds of the world's cultural treasures. trouble is, the country's too broke to keep its historic ruins, churches and monuments from crumbling to dust. italy is up to its neck in debt, taxes go unpaid, corruption in an overstuffed bureaucracy is rife. but now, some of its most treasured and endangered landmarks are being saved-- not by the government, but by a more respected italian institution, the fashion business. as morley safer reported in 2014, it's stepped in to rescue some of italy's most iconic sites-- among them, the very symbol of its rich, violent and

in rome. >> morley safer: with its stunning, timeless sights, it's justifiably called "the eternal city"-- a holy place to billions; a vast landscape of the sacred and profane; an architectural delight, especially when viewed at sunset. and smack in the middle is the colosseum, the greatest surviving wonder of the ancient world, a memorial to the rise, decline and fall of imperial rome, a place truly colossal. >> kimberly bowes: we think it seats about 50,000 people. but this number depends on how wide you think the roman behind was. if you think that they had big behinds, then you calculate less; small behinds, you calculate more. >> safer: backsides aside, professor kimberly bowes is the director of the american academy in rome and an expert on ancient

every inch of the colosseum. she's taking us to the very top level, far above where tourists tread, for a sight that, over the centuries, very few people have seen firsthand. >> bowes: the view is terrifying! and the view is extraordinary. look at this, this is where the poor people sat. you really get the scale of this building here, though. look how big this is. look how big this is! people are ants! >> safer: the place was built by the hands of slaves in just ten years, finished a mere half- century after the crucifixion. the performers here were gladiators, wild animals, even comedians. i gather that this place was the entertainment center, the broadway of its day, yes? >> bowes: in a way. the whole point is to produce marvels, to produce a spectacle that would have amazed the audience. the people with the most power, the senators, are down at the

and the people with the least power, the slaves and the women, are up at the top. >> safer: women? >> bowes: women. like, you don't want women to get too close to gladiators. you have to keep them separate. because your greatest fear... you've two fears if you're a roman man. one is that your slave is going to kill you one day in your bed. and your second fear is that your wife is going to run off with a slave, like a gladiator. this is what everyone's afraid of, so you've got to put the women up on the top. >> safer: so, even though the gladiators were slaves, they were kind of the movie stars of their day. >> bowes: they were. >> safer: and we turn to hollywood for an idea of how it all might have looked. ( cheers and applause ) >> bowes: there's a moment in "gladiator" where russell crowe walks out to right where we are. >> safer: professor bowes gives the filmmakers high marks for the historical accuracy of their computer recreation of the colosseum. >> bowes: the whole drama is really the re-enactment of roman

expansion of the empire. >> safer: backstage was actually underground-- the basement. >> bowes: until recently, this was just filled with dirt. >> safer: a labyrinth of corridors-- dungeons for slaves, cages for animals, all brought from the far reaches of the empire. and wooden elevators, raised by ropes and pulleys, leading to trap doors in the stage. >> bowes: there's a wonderful scene in "gladiator" where the tiger pops out of the floor. this is exactly the kind of thing that would have been used to wow the audience. >> safer: since the 18th century, the roman catholic church has venerated the colosseum as a symbol of the early christian martyrs who were put to death for their beliefs. professor bowes tells visitors there were indeed early christians quietly executed elsewhere in rome. but as for the colosseum... >> bowes: we have not one piece

were ever killed in this building, not one. there are, i think, really interesting reasons for this. if you take a group of people who, by all accounts, are extraordinarily brave in the face of certain death, and you put them in this space and put them on display, who's everyone going to cheer for? they're going to cheer for the christians, right? because they show such extraordinary bravery. this is not a smart thing to do politically. >> so, i'm in the famous colosseum. >> safer: six million tourists a year visit here, snapping selfies and posing with rent-a- gladiators who pass the time with cigarettes and cell phones. the place has survived fires and earthquakes over the centuries. now, there's a new crisis-- finding the money to manage the crowds and keep up with basic maintenance. the director of the colosseum is rossella rea. >> rossella rea ( translated ): the money isn't there. there's very little, totally inadequate funding.

>> safer: too little money, and from the italian parliament, too much red tape. a lot of people say the bureaucracy is so top heavy that that's the reason why things don't get done. >> rea: bureaucracy is not just heavy, it is extremely heavy, and we are the first victims. bureaucracy, for us, is a killer. >> safer: but that scaffolding you saw earlier is a sign that help is on the way. the colosseum is getting a badly needed facelift, with money from an unlikely source. to prevent further ruin, a benefactor is spending an arm and a leg-- $35 million-- on a place where, 2,000 years ago, gladiators and slaves literally lost arms, legs and lives, and all in the name of show business. the benefactor is diego della valle, a prominent italian

about the business of showing. della valle is c.e.o. of tod's, the luxury leather goods company. crafting stylish shoes and bags has long been an italian specialty. having made his bundle, della valle decided to give some back to the state. why spend so much of your own money, millions upon millions, to fix this wreck? >> diego della valle: why not? well, i am italian. i am very proud to be italian. and there is a very famous kennedy speech, no? is the moment that what is possible for us to do for our country, we need to do now. >> safer: the shoes that made della valle's fortune are assembled the old-fashioned way- - by hand, stitch by stitch. and the work he's funding at the colosseum is also about as low- tech as it gets.

inch by inch to get rid of centuries of caked-on dust, grime, air and auto pollution. the stone is travertine, a kind of limestone. no chemicals are allowed, only purified water and elbow grease- - days, weeks, months, years on end of scrubbing. built by hand, saved by hand. how long is it going to take? >> della valle: the colosseum, i think, three years from now. >> safer: and what will it look like, do you think, when they're finished? >> della valle: i am very curious. >> safer: to get some idea, we were shown a few sections that have been completely cleaned-- 2,000 years old, and looking almost brand new. and in the world of high style, it's become fashionable to follow della valle's example. an entire parade of fashionistas are bankrolling similar worthy

the fendi fashion house donated $3.5 million for some new plumbing for a familiar waterworks. it's the trevi fountain... >> marcello, come here! >> safer: ...where, 54 years ago, marcello mastroianni and anita ekberg went wading in fellini's "la dolce vita," "the sweet life," forever linking rome and romance. >> silvia fendi: this movie helped a lot to build this powerful image of the trevi fountain. cinema has big power. >> safer: silvia fendi's grandfather started the business 90 years ago. and as we spoke, huge crowds had a last chance to throw in a coin before the closing of the site for repairs. >> fendi: it means that you will be in good health in order to come back, so it's very important for us. this country gave us a lot, and

to give back something. >> safer: elsewhere in rome, the bulgari fashion house is paying to clean and repair the spanish steps, where tourists stop to rest their feet. a japanese fashion company with ties to italy is restoring the pyramid of cestius, built to honor a noble roman two decades before the birth of christ and after the roman conquest of egypt. and in venice, the 400-year-old rialto bridge over the grand canal will be cleaned and strengthened, thanks to $7 million from this man, renzo rosso. is the government too poor, too broke to maintain its treasures? >> renzo rosso: no, i think we have to face with the reality. the reality is that they don't have money. >> safer: rosso is a farmer's son, a self-made man known as the "jeans genius," as in diesel jeans. he built the brand from the

businesses and becoming a billionaire several times over. >> rosso: i want more short. >> safer: his sleek headquarters rival anything in silicon valley, what with the espresso bars and day care, where kids learn the international language of business. >> clap out, clap in. >> safer: but the fashion industry is a rare bright spot in the stagnant italian economy, and these workers are the lucky ones. elsewhere, fully half the country's young adults are unemployed. there's corruption, public and private, and widespread tax evasion. >> rosso: the italian people are tired of this corruption. because we have too many people that steal, too many people that put the money in his pocket. we have 40% of people who don't pay tax. can you imagine? 40%. it's unbelievable. >> safer: pope francis talks about the problem in scathing terms, saying corrupt

priests are everywhere. and the country's new young prime minister, matteo renzi, has declared war on the political establishment, saying the whole system should be scrapped. diego della valle agrees. >> della valle: i think it's possible now to... to open a new way. the old point of view was without any sense. i hope in the new point of view. i push for the new point of view. >> safer: but as della valle's scrubbers continue their work, it's worth noting that his generous offer to restore the country's greatest monument was mired in the bureaucratic mud for nearly three years before work could begin. >> bowes: this is the real challenge that italy has. this is why sites are closed and monuments are falling down. the bureaucracy will have to change in order to actually make it possible for someone to come and say, "here, do you want $25 million?" without the

i'll have to think about it." >> safer: but time has a way of standing still for italians. past glories are always present. the food remains superb and the noble wines still lubricate the conversation. on the surface, it's still la dolce vita, "the sweet life." as for the future, that's somebody else's problem. i recommend nature made fish oil. because i trust their quality. they were the first to have a product verified by usp. an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. nature made. the number one pharmacist recommended

it's a taste so bold, yet so smooth, it could only be called, black silk, from folgers. a taste you could enjoy, fresh brewed, or one cup at a time. black silk, from folgers. my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis made a simple trip to the grocery store anything but simple. so finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your dermatologist about humira.

tt0w!tx#hi!!%4@-*! tt0w!tx#hi!!el@- &l tt0w!tx#hi!!ed@-&$( tt0w!tx#hi%!)8h-fzt tt0w!tx#hi%!kzh-[5( tt0w!tx#hi%!n-h-.\$ tt0w!tx#hi%!0ph-0;< tt0w!tx#hi%!s"h- i\ tt0w!tx#hi%!ueh-#+, tt0w!tx#hi%!7hh-?)x hey. something new has arrived. and it works in the middle of anywhere. [ ding ] the new iphone 6s on u.s. cellular lets you stay connected where other networks don't. [ chuckles ]

together you can do more. >> pelley: before stepping down as pope, benedict xvi carried out thousands of official duties over eight years, but only once did he travel outside rome to

honor on a church, transforming it into a basilica, a sacred place forever. tonight, we're going to take you to that extraordinary church. it's called the sagrada famiilia, and, if you've ever been to barcelona, spain, you couldn't have missed it. it may be one of the most spectacular buildings ever constructed by man, the vision of genius spanish architect antoni gaudii, known as god's architect, who died almost a century ago. it's been under construction for 130 years, and it's still not finished. why would a church take so long to build? because, as lara logan first reported in 2013, gaudii's design was as complicated as it was advanced. today, the sagrada famiilia has become the longest running architectural project on earth.

benedict came to the sagrada famiilia two years ago, it was the first time mass had ever been held here. in an ancient tradition as old as the catholic church, he consecrated the sagrada famiilia as a basilica. not since 1883, when it was envisioned by antoni gaudii, had it been seen in all its glory. 800 voices filled the air, one of the largest choirs in the world, and close to 7,000 people gathered, celebrating a moment that had taken 128 years to arrive. while the inside is mostly finished, outside, there's still much to be done.

construction cranes for miles. watch as this picture moves in from above-- those tiny figures below are people dwarfed by the massive faccade rising from the main entrance of the church. antoni gaudii was profoundly devout, and this was his way to make amends to god for the sins of the modern world. >> gijs van hensbergen: i mean, he wanted to write the history of the whole of the catholic faith in one building. i mean, how crazy and how extraordinary and how ambitious and how, in a sense, megalomaniac that idea is. >> logan: gijs van hensbergen immersed himself in antoni gaudii's life for ten years and wrote what's considered the definitive biography. he took us to see the nativity faccade, the only part built while gaudii was alive. >> van hensbergen: it's the bible written in stone. >> logan: so, every single little thing that you look at there, every detail symbolizes something real?

that was the idea, that we together would spend days here-- me teaching you, if i was a priest, what the story was, and what the symbolism was. and once you get inside is a wonderful, kind of spiritual boost. >> logan: the ceiling is a striking display of gaudii's engineering genius. he wanted the interior of his church to have the feel of a forest, because that's where he believed man could feel closest to god. and when you look upwards, you can see gaudii's columns branching out like trees. >> van hensbergen: trees are actually buildings, he said. it knows where to throw out a branch. and if you look at the sagrada famiilia today, that's exactly what happens with those bizarre, eccentric... they look bizarre and eccentric, but the engineering beneath it is absolutely exceptional.

out that, as you move towards the altar, the columns are made from stronger and stronger stone. gaudii chose red porphery from iran for the ones that bear the heaviest load, because it's among the strongest in the world. if you had to define, sort of, the one thing that distinguished gaudii as an architect, what would it be? >> van hensbergen: the capacity to see space in a totally different way, to make space explode, to see a building as a sculpture rather than just as a place to live in or a roof over your head. he's someone who reinvented the language of architecture, which no other architect has ever managed to do. >> logan: how many years ahead of his time was he? >> van hensbergen: oh, he was a century ahead, he was a century ahead. >> logan: gaudii knew the sagrada famiilia would not be completed in his lifetime, so he spent years building these elaborate plaster models. this one is of the church's ceiling.

guide for future generations of architects to follow his complicated design, and he knew that, without them, it would never be finished the way he intended. >> jordi bonet: i am very old, but... >> logan: you're very old? >> bonet: this next month, yes. >> logan: but? >> bonet: 87. >> logan: gaudii's legacy has been in the hands of this man's family for more than 80 years. jordi bonet came here for the first time in 1932, when he was just seven years old. do you remember what this was like when you first came here? >> bonet: yes. >> logan: was it nothing like this? >> bonet: nothing of this. only this faccade, the walls. and the other faccade? this was nothing. >> logan: for years, the sagrada famiilia was little more than a ruin, a pile of rubble and open sky. and it may have stayed that way were it not for this one family. this is jordi bonet's father, who was one of the lead

years. jordi followed him as chief architect for almost three decades, and his daughter mariona is an architect here today. together, they've spent more time working on this church than gaudii himself. the devotion to gaudii runs deep here. japanese sculptor etsuro sotoo has spent 35 years in this church, and this is where he expects to be for the rest of his life, sculpting the figures that adorn gaudii's final masterpiece, consumed by the man and his vision. >> etsuro sotoo ( translated ): gaudii teaches me and helps me solve problems in my work. for me, he's not dead. >> logan: why did you convert to catholicism? you became a catholic. >> etsuro sotoo ( translated ): i was a buddhist, but after working here, i realized i couldn't do my job without knowing gaudii.

in the place he was, and that was a world of faith. >> logan: gaudii's deep faith is the reason he became known as "god's architect." this is one of the few photographs ever taken of him. he was 31 when he started working on the sagrada famiilia. and over the next 43 years, it >> van hensbergen: he looked his trousers were held up with string. his clothes were kind of frayed, and... because all he was interested in was the sagrada famiilia. i mean, that was every waking hour, to the point, at the end of his life, actually, where he was sleeping on the site. >> logan: gaudii died suddenly at this intersection in 1926 when he was hit by a tram. the driver pushed him aside, mistaking the beloved architect for a tramp. >> van hensbergen: the photos show you these people kind of bereft of their builder, the

>> logan: after his death, the builder of god's plaster models continued to guide construction for the next ten years, until 1936, when the spanish civil war broke out. anarchists attacked the sagrada famiilia. this photo captures smoke billowing from its side. all those models gaudii had spent years building were smashed to pieces. wow, these are all the original pieces that were picked up from his studio. >> mark burry: yup, and they've been sort of painstakingly identified. >> logan: these shattered fragments were rescued from the rubble and ashes by jordi bonet's father and a team of architects. there are thousands of them locked away inside this room in the sagrada famiilia. they are the structural d.n.a. of gaudii's church. >> burry: they are absolutely the link; not a vague link, not a source of evidence-- it's the

>> logan: new zealander mark burry was studying architecture at cambridge university in england when he first came to the sagrada famiilia on a backpacking trip in 1977. he'd come at just the right moment. the architects were stuck. the second faccade had just been completed, and they were ready to take on the main body of the church, but no one could figure out how to build it as gaudii intended. what were you going to do that they couldn't do? >> burry: my task was to actually reverse-engineer the models, if you like. >> logan: reverse-engineer them so he could understand how gaudii's models were supposed to fit together... >> burry: this is the model maker's workshop. >> logan: ...almost like the pieces of a complex puzzle. he told us gaudii's design was so advanced, there was nothing like it in the language of architecture at the time. in the end, he turned to the most sophisticated aeronautical design software available.

other professions who've actually tackled the complexities of the sagrada famiilia, which are basically complex shapes and surfaces, so that's the vehicle industry-- the car designers, the ship designers, the plane designers. they've been grappling for decades with the very same issues that gaudii was putting up as architectural challenges. >> logan: so you are using the most up-to-date aeronautical engineering software to complete something that he conceived of in the late 1800s. >> burry: absolutely. >> logan: after 34 years, mark burry is now one of the lead architects. he took us up to their construction site in the sky, way above the city. from up here, you can see all the way to the mediterranean. how did they build these towers 130 years ago? >> burry: they built them by hand. >> logan: today, massive cranes swing heavy equipment and

constructing the sagrada famiilia precisely as gaudii envisioned. burry says they still rely on gaudii's models to guide them, nearly a hundred years later. >> burry: what's extraordinary is, because of the system that gaudii put in place using these particular geometries, it all fits within fractions of an inch. >> logan: the spot where we're standing is where they're building gaudii's central tower. at 566 feet, it will make this the tallest church on earth. gaudii designed it to be three feet shorter than the tallest surrounding mountain, in deference to god. when you finish this tower, it's going to be double where we are right now? >> burry: we're going to get this view amplified by two. >> logan: mark burry says it will take at least another 13 years to finish the sagrada

church. during the pope's visit, jordi bonet was called on to represent the three generations of architects, engineers and sculptors who have brought gaudii's vision this far. do you think you will see this complete? >> bonet: this is very difficult to answer. my age is a big age. but it is possible. >> logan: do you have any doubt in your mind that this will be finished one day? >> bonet: oh, yes, i... i believe.

( bell tolls ) >> this cbs sports update is brought to you by the lincoln motor company. i'm greg gumbel in new york with a few upsets in college basketball today. a stunner in the big east as seaton hall knocks off xavier. in the big 10, ohio state rallied at home to shock iowa and improve its ncaa tournament resume. and in the acc, pittsburgh wins its first game against ranked opponent by beating number 15 duke on senior day for the panthers. for more sports news and information, go to cbssports.com. [weird dog moan/squeak] why not? [dog yawning/squeaking] no, we're not, we're not having barbecue... again. [quiet dog groan] why? because you're on four legs, and i'm on two... and i'm driving. that's why. [dog whine]

the microsoft cloud allows us to access information from anywhere. the microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. it wasn't too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. now, we can do a hundred per day. with the microsoft cloud we don't have to build server rooms. we have instant scale. the microsoft cloud is helping us to re-build and re-interpret our business. this cloud helps transform business.

hey. something new has arrived. and it works in the middle of anywhere. [ ding ] the new iphone 6s on u.s. cellular lets you stay connected where other networks don't. [ chuckles ] the new iphone 6s on u.s. cellular. together you can do more. >>pelley: i'm scott pelley. stick around.

minutes" is coming up next. it's easy to love your laxative when that lax loves your body back. only miralax hydrates, eases and softens to unblock naturally, so you have peace of mind from start to finish. love your laxative. miralax. those new glasses? they are. do i look smarter? yeah, a little. you're making money now, are you investing? well, i've been doing some research. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know.

(dad laughs) wow, you're laughing. that's not the way the world works. well, the world's changing. are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab. homes are not one-dimensional. why use traditional aerosols that are? new air wick room mist with life scents is a multi-layered fragrance, just like scents in real life. finally, a true-to-life fragrance, for your lively home. air wick. home is in the air. captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. captioned by

access.wgbh.org captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> pelley: how many of you have been declared dead by the federal government? all of you. 86 million names are on a list called the death master file. if your name is on it, the social security administration has declared you dead, and shared that with banks, law

agencies you might depend on. you couldn't get access to your bank accounts. you couldn't get a credit card. how did you live? >> well, for a time, i lived in my car. >> stahl: most of us take for granted that we can instantly recognize people we know by looking at their faces. but imagine for a second what life would be like if you couldn't. >> no idea. >> don't have a clue. >> stahl: couldn't recognize yourself in a mirror. >> this is a problem i have been having. >> stahl: faces. >> yes, faces. >> stahl: that's what life is like for people who suffer from a mysterious neurological condition called face blindness, or prosopagnosia. does anybody know what that is? it is someone in your family. it is your daughter. >>i'm steve kroft. >>i'm lesley stahl. >>i'm bill whitaker. >>i'm scott pelley. those stories on this special