Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

The Art Nouveau Site of the Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul is a group of buildings located in Barcelona, designed by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, one of the most representative architects of Catalan modernism. It is a great work of public use, very innovative, thought like a city-garden for the sick persons. At the beginning of the 20th century, the project was a modern architectural and urban planning, trying to modify the dominant lines of the Eixample district.

We are in front of one of the largest modernist complex in the world, consisting of a building dedicated to the administration, a building for operations, a church and 26 pavilions for the patients. It was built between 1902 and 1930 under the orders of the mentioned architect and his son, Pere Domènech i Roura, after his death. In the project collaborated several artists who have been in charge responsible for realizing sculptures, paintings, ceramics, mosaics and wrought iron elements, with great decorative value. In 1997 the monument was recognised as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, together with the Palace of Catalan Music.

After more than 80 years of medical activity within the modernist area, the University Hospital of Sant Pau moved in 2009 to new facilities, leaving the site as a visitable space and home to international cultural organizations.

Highlights

✔ The Administration Pavilion, made of facing bricks and decorated with statues and mosaics. The facade, dominated by a splendid clock tower, faces the church of the Sagrada Familia. We find here Gothic, Mozarabic and Neo-gothic architectural elements.
✔ The pavilions, profusely decorated with modernist elements and surrounded by gardens. The different buildings have subterranean connections.