Sant Pau Hospital Barcelona

The Sant Pau Hospital is now part of a larger site called the Modernist Site of Sant Pau. An emblematic place of Barcelona inscribed in the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Its hospital is a living testimony of the modernist era that marked the city of Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Sant Pau Modernist Site is located in the Eixample district, not far from the Sagrada Familia. You can get to the Sant Pau Modernist Site by taking line 5 of the Barcelona Metro and getting off at Sant Pau | Dos de Maig station. Or you can take the buses listed at the bottom of this page.

All tickets to visit Sant Pau Hospital Barcelona at the best prices

The Sant Pau Modernist Site is an architectural complex in the Modernist style, created in 1902 by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It is of particular interest to lovers of architecture and design. The site is made up of 27 buildings - only 19 of which are from the original Modernist project. Together with its green areas, it covers more than 20,000 square metres. The architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner was inspired by the most modern hospitals in Europe at the time to create a sanitary space in which patients would feel free to walk around. The modernist pavilions are surrounded by gardens and connected by a network of underground tunnels.

Recinto Modernista Sant Pau Barcelona

Sant Pau Hospital Barcelona: The construction of the Modernist Site

The Modernist Site of Sant Pau was built thanks to a donation from a Barcelona banker living in Paris, Pau Gil i Serra, who earmarked part of his inheritance for the construction of a hospital for the poor. The hospital was built in two phases: the first between 1902 and 1913, when the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner created 13 Modernist buildings, and the second from 1920 onwards when his son Pere Domènech i Roura built another six buildings of moderate Modernism.

In 1926, the old Santa Creu Hospital was transferred to this new hospital, which was henceforth called the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital. Like Gaudi's Park Güell, Domènech i Montaner designed the hospital as a "garden city", with its own urban network oriented on a north-south axis to capture as much natural light as possible on the main façades.

The buildings were built with the materials and decoration of a Catalan Modernism inspired by the Neo-Gothic period, with a profusion of ceramics, visible brickwork and sculptures incorporating an important iconography showing the author's religious and historical vision.

The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, World Heritage Site by UNESCO 

The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997 along with another modernist work by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the Palau de la Música Catalana. Both monuments are considered to be outstanding examples of early 20th-century architecture and town planning, representing the harmonious combination of Art Nouveau and Catalan Art Nouveau.

The site is also a symbol of Barcelona's history, marked by the city's economic and cultural boom at the beginning of the 20th century.

The hospital functioned as a medical centre until 2009 when the medical services were transferred to new modern buildings. Since then, the old hospital has been renovated and transformed into a museum open to the public, offering visitors the opportunity to discover the history of the hospital and the unique architecture of the Modernist Site of Sant Pau.

Some interesting anecdotes about the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau :

• The architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner was such a perfectionist that he oversaw all aspects of the hospital's construction, including the creation of furniture and decorative details such as door handles.
• During the Spanish Civil War, the hospital was used as a military hospital, and some of the buildings were severely damaged. After the war, efforts were made to restore the hospital buildings and gardens
• One of the hospital's most iconic buildings is the Administration Pavilion, which once housed the hospital's administrative offices. Today, the pavilion houses a concert hall, and many musicians have been inspired by the room's acoustics. The Administration Pavilion has also been used as a film location for films such as 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer' and 'The Passenger'.
• The hospital's gardens, which are one of the main attractions for visitors, were designed to provide a peaceful and healing environment for the hospital's patients. The gardens are adorned with sculptures and fountains, and are filled with a variety of plants and trees, providing a green oasis in the heart of the city.
• The hospital has been the workplace of many famous health professionals and artists, including the biologist Carmen Castro, the physiologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the painter Joaquín Mir and the poet Joan Salvat-Papasseit. Their influence and work have helped to make the hospital a centre of medical and cultural excellence.