BARCELONA: HOSPITAL DE SANT PAU

The Modernist Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu Complex was built between 1905 and 1930 and designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner as a garden city for nursing the sick. Together with Palau de la Música Catalana, also designed by this architect, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

After being used as a public hospital for a century, its newly refurbished pavilions shine again in all their splendour.

By the late 19th century, the old Hospital de la Santa Creu in Barcelona’s Raval neighbourhood needed to be relocated because it had become obsolete and too small. The result was an ambitious project inspired by the breakthroughs in health and hygiene at the time. 

Scale model of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

It was awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1997 and now its architectural and artistic values have been brought to a wider audience with the new use of its pavilions.

The former hospital complex is now a knowledge campus and the headquarters of international organizations including the European Forest Institute, the Casa Àsia, the Global University Network for Innovation, and the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility.

A modernist pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

A visit to this magnificent complex allows you to delve into history, art and the present day. The pavilions, set among gardens and connected by underground passages, are really beautiful and a showcase for the applied arts, featuring sculptures, stained glass and mosaics.

These are the places I could visit inside The Hospital de Sant Pau:

• Administration pavilion
• Main facade
• Hypostyle Hall
• Gardens
• Surgery Pavilion
• Sant Rafael Pavilion
• Main Hall
• Domènech i Montaner Room

Administration Pavilion

Main facade of the Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu

Main facade

Entrance to the Administration Pavilion of the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Detail of the main facade of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Modernist facade of Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu in Barcelona

Hypostyle Hall

Hypostyle Hall of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Gardens

Gardens between the modernist pavilions of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Surgery pavilion behind the gardens of Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona

Taking pictures of the gardens between the modernist pavilions of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Surgery Pavilion

Surgery Pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

A closer view os the surgery pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu

This cross is the symbol of La Santa Creu institution

Sant Rafael Pavilion

Modernist details of Sant Rafael pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau. The roofs of the pavilions with tiles, tiles in flake shaped, chimneys, domes and pinnacles underline the lush application of ceramic to decorate them

Modernist dome of one of the pavilions of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Pinnacle of a pavilion of Sant Pau Hospital highly decorated with pottery 

Main Hall

Main hall in the Administration Pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Ceiling of the main hall of the Administration pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau

Detail of the main hall of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Distributing corridor of the two wings of the administration pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau. These corridors are bright spaces with large windows that contain most of the stained glass windows of the building. They have vaults with richly decorated pottery

Detail of a stained glass window in the previous corridor of Hospital de Sant Pau

Dome over the main staircase in the administration pavilion of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

A closer view of the previous dome

Domènech i Montaner Room 

Domènech i Montaner room in Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Large stained glass window in Domènech i Montaner room of Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona

Below you can see some useful information:

- Address: Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167

- How to get there:

• Metro: L5 stop Hospital de Sant Pau and L4 stop Guinardó
• Bus: 19, 20, 45, 47, 50, 51, 92, H6 and H8.

- Web site: www.santpaubarcelona.org

Next you have links of some of the most beautiful places of Barcelona and surroundings

Most of them are located in four areas: Modernism Route, Gothic Quarter (and Old City), Montjuïc and Barcelona Seafront. Cliking on the links below you will get more and information and pictures.

- Modernism Route

• Sagrada Familia
• Park Güell
• Casa Milà (La Pedrera)
• Casa Batlló
• Palau Güell
• Palau de la Música Catalana
• Casa Calvet
• Torre Bellesguard
• Col·legi de les Teresianes
• Pabellons Güell
• La Boqueria

- Gothic Quarter, Montjuíc, Promenade and Tibidabo

• Santa Maria del Mar
• La Rambla
• Montjuïc Castle
• Magic Fountain
• Olympic Marina
• Promenade and beach
• Tibidabo

Finally, clicking on the next link you will find more links to other beautiful places in Barcelona, among them, more fantastic modernist masterpieces you can see along the Modernist Route.