Sant Francesc de Sales Church

In the middle of Passeig de Sant Joan Avenue, between the Valencia and Aragó streets, stands majestically one of the most beautiful examples of neogothic architecture in Barcelona. The current church of Sant Francesc de Sales was built between 1878 and 1885 as part of the convent of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. After the abandonment of the convent in 1936 by the Salesian nuns, the building was converted into a religious college and later into a parish church.

This construction of great elegance and beauty is considered as the most important work of the architect Joan Martorell y Montells (1833-1906), born in Barcelona and Antoni Gaudí's teacher.

The church has a single nave with the shape of a Latin cross, polygonal apse and a protruding dome. The materials used are very diverse: bricks, stone, ceramics.

Highlights

✔ The facade. A rare feature of the church is the situation of the belfry on the facade and the main access through the base of this. The long and slender polygonal pointed bell tower is flanked by two lateral pinnacles that reproduce in smaller scale the central tower.
✔ The stained-glass windows.