This route describes one of the modernist routes that can be made in Barcelona and consists of visiting the St. Pau's Hospital,
modernist symbol of the city.
History of Saint Pau's Hospital
This hospital, of modernism style, located in the Eixample, is one of the main hospitals of Barcelona and its design and
architecture makes it unique in Europe.
It was constructed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850 - 1923) in 1901 and finished by his son in 1930. In the XIX century
Barcelona was growing between the walls and due to high population people began to construct outside them. A new and
bigger hospital was needed and there was no place inside the walls, so it should be constructed outside. Thanks to the
economic contribution of Pau Gil, a Barcelonian banker who lived in Paris, the construction of Saint Pau began in his
present location. The hospital name comes from the old Hospital of Santa Creu and to the Saint of the benefactor Pau Gil.
The Hospital of Santa Creu (1401), of medieval origin, was the first hospital of Barcelona, and it was created from
the union of small medieval hospitals. It is the origin of the present institution, the second oldest of Europe. It is located in
the Ciutat Vella district although at the moment it is used for other things. It has
one of the most important archives about medieval hospitalary techniques of the world.
Architectonic characteristics
Domènech i Montaner had the idea to construct a hospital formed by 48 pavilions of modernism style, thus following with
the architectonic renovation and the creative freedom that took place in Europe at the end of XIX century also known as
Art Nouveau.
From the initial 48 pavilions, just 18 were constructed. Twelve of them were made by Domènech i Montaner before their death
and the rest were constructed by his son. The 18 pavilions have been declared Patrimony of the Humanity. Domènech i Montaner studied for its construction all the different type of hospitals that were in Europe at that time.
From the pavilions in comb united by a gallery in the ground floor (Paris), to the hospitals made by isolated pavilions to
avoid infections (Brussels, France). In the end, Domènech decided an intermediate solution, isolated but united pavilions
by underground galleries.
Domènech i Montaner distributed the pavilions following the city-planning plan that Ildefons Cerdà developed in
Barcelona because of its expansion outside the walls. A city-planning plan formed by
islands of houses with community gardens in each block, oriented parallel to the sea. Domènech put the pavilions on oblique form to the predicted by Cerdà, orienting all the pavilions to the sun. In
addition the gardens contained medicinal and aromatic vegetation that helped the patients in its recovering.
Each pavilion has one or two floors where there are patient's rooms, and in the underground floor the rooms of exploration and
doctor's offices. Thanks to the different galleries that connect them it is easy to transfer the patients from a pavilion to
another one. The buildings are constructed following traditional methods of Catalonia, for that reason they are made by cloissone
vault or Catalan vault.
They are denominated in this way because at Catalonia the vaults were done placing bricks by the flat face, thus being able to
construct ample rooms. In addition, it was the main material in the Catalan architecture from XVIII century to years 30, and they
are both economic and aesthetic, as they do not need to be repainted or replaster them. Domènech also used iron structures
(was an innovative technique at the time), which allowed him to create greater ventilated rooms full of natural light.
