Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau
C/de Sant Antoni Maria Claret 167, at c/de la Independència • Information point open daily 10am-1.30pm •
€10, under-18s €5, includes tour (daily in English at 10am, 11am, noon & 1pm, plus others in Spanish/Catalan)
• 932 682 444,
bcn.cat/visitsantpau
• Hospital de Sant Pau
LluísDomènechiMontaner's
modernista
publichospital,the
HospitaldelaSantaCreuide
SantPau
,ispossibly the onebuilding intownthat can rival the Sagrada Família forsize and
invention. The hospital has its own metro stop, but it's far better to walk up the four-block-
long Avinguda de Gaudí from the church, which gives terrific views back over the spires of
the Sagrada Família.
Work started in 1902, the brief being to replace the city's medieval hospital buildings in the
Raval.Thearchitectspenttenyearsworkingontheprojectandlefthistrademarksalloverit:
thumbing hisnoseat the city grid,healigned the buildings diagonally tothe Eixample, while
whimsicalpavilions,turretsandtowersarecoveredwithsculpture,mosaics,stainedglassand
ironwork. These days, the old buildings have been superseded by the modern hospital of the
same name behind, though a painstaking restoration of the
modernista
pavilions is currently
under way. Informative hard-hat
tours
of the site tell you more about the six-hundred-year
history of the hospital and the current renovation project; there's also a “Ruta del Modern-
isme” information point in the Sant Jordi pavilion, where you can see a documentary on the
Art Nouveau period in Catalunya.
