LLEI D'ART 14

architectural heritage TheHospital of SantaCreuandSt. Pau (Barcelona) TheHospital was founded in 1401 as a result of themerging of the six existing hospitals inBarcelona at the time. These small hospitalswere essentially religious or private, and the main fundingderived from the citizens’ charity. TheHospital de laSantaCreu, as it was called in the initial stages, was in the centre of the city in the current Raval neighbourhood, andwas housed inone of Catalonia’smost important Gothic civil buildings. At the endof the 19th century, the demographic growthof Barcelona and advances inmedicine meant that the hospital soonbecame too small for its needs. To this end, it was suggested that a newbuildingbe constructed. Thanks to the legacy of thebanker PauGil, the first stone of the newhospital complex – designedby Lluís Domènech i Muntaner -was laid in 1902. Aftermore than eight decades of healthcare in theModernista complex, theHospital de laSantaCreu i Sant Paumoved into new buildings in the northeast corner of the complex. The hospital, which is one of Europe’s and theworld’s oldest, was designed as a largebuilding, with four rectangular wings, two storeys high arranged around a yard, similar to ecclesiastical cloisters. KingMartin I theHumane witnessed theplacingof thebuilding’s first stone on the 13thof February 1401, and construction concluded in 1450. Later, in the 18th century, thebuildingwas enlargened, and during the 19th and early 20th centuries small extensions weremade. The institution’s income still dependedon charity, alms, donations and legacies of privatepersons. For this reason twopeople, a religiousman and a layman took direct control of the income. However, with thepassingof time, theHospital incorporated funding from various privileges awardedby kings andpopes, amongst which therewere the privileges of inheriting the goods of thosewhodied intestate or withno legitimatedescendents (1418) or the comedy privilege, bywhichPhilip II gave theHospital exclusive rights over theatre inBarcelona (1587). Thuswas how theHospital de laSantaCreu came tobe themainhospital for Barcelona and its province for over five centuries. The charitable activity of theHospital went beyond caring for the sick, aswell into the 19th century it alsoperformed the important task of taking in and educating orphans. The hospital’s contribution to thedevelopment ofmedicine was highly important. Themedical activity of theHospital de laSantaCreuwas launchedby theRoyal College of Surgery, the originof the future Faculty ofMedicine. In fact, from the 19th century onwards theHospital became the centre of teaching and activity in the city,making it a first-rate hospital complex at the same level as the great European hospitals that werebeingbuilt around the continent. At this time, however, the gothicbuilding in theRaval began to show signs of fatigue. After five centuries of uninterrupted activity, it couldno longer cover the growthof Barcelona and meet the needs of the constant advances inmedicine, so the constructionof a new hospital became necessary. The last years of activity at theHospital de laSantaCreu coincidewith the arrival of the great urban transformation of the city: thedevelopment of theCerdàPlan and the constructionof theEixampledistrict.Within this context of extramural growth theParis-basedCatalanbanker PauGil i Serradied in 1896. In hiswill, Gil established that his legacy shouldbedestined to the constructionof a newhospital in Barcelona, and specified that the new centre shouldbring together themost novel technological, architectural and medical innovations. He also asked the hospital be erected under the advocationof Saint Paul, hence the nameHospital de laSantaCreu i Sant Pau. The agreement between the Hospital de laSantaCreu andPauGil’s executorsmade the constructionof the hospital possible on land that belonged to theSantaCreu. The competition to construct the new 45