My Escapes Spain Barcelona Exploring Gaudí's Sprawling Surreal Barcelona Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Yet another rarely visited, less-known attraction with exciting architecture...
It used to be a hospital, but was gradually transformed into a cultural center and museum complex.

You can either get there by walking from the Sagrada Família Church or access it from the Guinardó metro station. If you choose the latter, then you'll have a lot of walking to do, because the main entrance will be found at the opposite corner to the subway station.

The Catalan name of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau literally translates to "Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul".

Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed it, but he died in 1923, before its completion. The construction work took roughly 30 years: between 1901 and 1930.

48 pavilions were to be constructed, but "only" 27 were finalized.

The complex is huge. You can walk around and explore the buildings one by one.

These buildings were being actively used at the time of my visit, as part of a functioning hospital. I saw ambulances, medical doctors and even patients walking around.

Overall, there wasn't much movement between the buildings. Some of were under restauration.

A few curious visitors were wandering around. As it seemed to me, most of them were actually locals. Very few travelers wandered out here. Most of them don't know about it.

There are lots of independent, separate buildings. I reckon, a modern hospital would require more interconnection. This is probably part of the reason why they put an end to the hospital in 2009.

The complex will function as a museum and a cultural center.

When writing about Barcelona, I guess I repeated the "UNESCO World Heritage Site" words lots of times... Well, this complex is also on the list!

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