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The Hospital de Sant Pau
THE HOSPITAL THAT BECAME A MUSEUM

Hospital de Sant Pau: a garden of pavilions

The former Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is a modernista complex built between 1901 and 1930 to designs by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It was a working hospital until 2009, reopened as a museum and cultural center in 2014, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photo: Alberto-g-rovi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

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Hospital de Sant Pau: a garden of pavilions

What you are looking at

El Guinardó

The stained-glass dome in the ceiling of Sant Pau's administration pavilion.
The stained-glass dome in the ceiling of Sant Pau's administration pavilion.Jordiferrer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
  1. 1
    The pavilionsTwelve pavilions in a green space, the largest complex built in Art Nouveau style.
  2. 2
    The underground galleriesLong tunnels that connect the buildings so patients and staff move without crossing the garden.
  3. 3
    The medieval foundationThe hospital dates to 1401, when six small medieval hospitals merged.
  4. 4
    The restorationA restoration that began in 2009 removed later additions and strengthened the structure.
  5. 5
    The new functionA museum and cultural center that also hosts international organizations.

Reading the place

The sight in full

A hospital with six hundred years behind it

The Hospital de la Santa Creu was founded in 1401 when six small medieval hospitals merged. The name Sant Pau was added in the twentieth century in honor of the banker Pau Gil, who paid for the new buildings. Construction of the original building began in 1401 and finished in 1450, and the Casa Convalescència was added in the seventeenth century. Those older buildings near the center of the city date from the fifteenth century and now house an art school, the Escola Massana, and the Biblioteca de Catalunya, the national library.

The administration pavilion of Sant Pau seen through iron gates, at the top of a flight of steps.
The administration pavilion of Sant Pau seen through iron gates, at the top of a flight of steps.Robot8A, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

As the city expanded, and the medieval buildings wore out, the construction of a new hospital designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner began in 1902.

Domènech's plan

Domènech i Montaner, who also designed the Palau de la Música Catalana, planned a hospital of forty-eight buildings, of which twenty-seven were actually built. The complex went up between 1901 and 1930 in the neighborhood of El Guinardó. It is one of the most prominent works of Catalan modernisme, and was listed as a historic ensemble in 1978.

Sant Pau's administration building across the street, with palm trees in front.
Sant Pau's administration building across the street, with palm trees in front.Bengt Nyman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

It is composed of twelve pavilions connected through long underground galleries within a large green space, and it is described as the largest complex built in Art Nouveau style. The idea was that a hospital set among trees and gardens, with light, air and decoration, would help recovery.

Working hospital to museum

It was a fully functioning hospital until June 2009, when a new hospital opened beside it. In 2003 a new building had already been erected to the north of the modernista pavilions, and almost all departments moved there. A few departments, such as the blood and tissue bank, radiography and physical therapy, remained in some of the old buildings for a time.

The arched entrance and steps of a brick pavilion at Sant Pau.
The arched entrance and steps of a brick pavilion at Sant Pau.Marketing Mediktor, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1991 the hospital was awarded the Cross of Saint George by the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 1997 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the Palau de la Música.

The restoration

A meticulous restoration began in 2009. A heritage committee coordinated the process and more than thirty teams of experts and architects took part. The original configuration of the buildings was recovered by studying the historical archives before any intervention. The project covered a built area of about twenty-nine thousand five hundred square meters and an outdoor space of about thirty-one thousand square meters, and was funded jointly by European, national, regional and city bodies and by the private foundation of the hospital.

A tile mosaic of figures gathered around a bed, on a wall at Sant Pau.
A tile mosaic of figures gathered around a bed, on a wall at Sant Pau.Bingar1234, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

It had three aims: restore the buildings to their original state by strengthening the structure and removing later additions; emphasize the ornamental elements with materials suited to the original design; and adapt the complex to contemporary needs and alternative uses without losing authenticity. New underground rooms and a new perimeter of columns were built so the facades would not be disturbed.

A cultural center with a working life

The premises have been open to visitors since 2014. The cultural center has a historical archive with records of notable events connected to the hospital and the city, with a reading room, and visitors and researchers may consult it. The complex also offers workspace to social organizations, among them the World Health Organization, UN-Habitat, the European Medicines Agency and a pharmaceutical bank.

A tiled dome above brick walls with carved ornament at Sant Pau.
A tiled dome above brick walls with carved ornament at Sant Pau.Bingar1234, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The restoration was expected to be fully complete by 2020, so some parts of the site may still be in progress; the official website lists the visiting arrangements.

An idea of the healthy city

The hospital project was shaped by the growing concern of the time about health in big cities. Domènech studied solutions used across Europe, among them the Lariboisière Hospital in Paris, St Thomas's in London, the Brugmann hospital at Laeken in Belgium and a military hospital at Toul in France, and devised an innovative answer: isolated pavilions linked by underground passages.

The administration building from across the avenue, with vans parked outside.
The administration building from across the avenue, with vans parked outside.Balou46, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

He had already tried the idea on a smaller scale at the Institut Pere Mata, an institution for the mentally ill in Reus, built between 1897 and 1919, where isolated pavilions are organized along internal streets and ornament, stained glass, ceramics and mosaic let nature lighten the spirit in every room. He used what he learned there at Sant Pau.

How it is built

Domènech combined the Catalan vault with steel structures like those he had used at the restaurant for the 1888 World's Fair, the Castell dels Tres Dragons, and at the Palau de la Música, which made large, clear spaces possible. The sobriety of the brickwork so typical of his work is tempered by the warmth of Montjuïc stone, as it is at the Palau, with sculpture by Pau Gargallo and Francesc Madurell i Torres.

A brick pavilion with towers and green shutters, seen through trees at Sant Pau.
A brick pavilion with towers and green shutters, seen through trees at Sant Pau.Balou46, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Barcelona City Council gave its annual architecture prizes to the Palau de la Música and to Sant Pau, in 1909 for the Palau by one account and in 1913 for the hospital, and UNESCO now lists the two together.

Walking the site

The setting is the point. The pavilions sit in a garden of colored brick, glazed tile, domes and carved ornament, and the underground galleries leave the surface free for light and planting. It is a quiet counterweight to the busier Gaudí sights.

A tile mosaic medallion with the date 1910 and the Greek letter omega.
A tile mosaic medallion with the date 1910 and the Greek letter omega.Joe Mabel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The hospital stands in El Guinardó, a short distance from the Sagrada Família, which makes the two buildings easy to combine in a day and shows the range of Modernisme: the basilica as spiritual fantasy, the hospital as a rational plan for public health. Many visitors find the contrast the most useful lesson about the movement.

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