PLACES OF INTEREST

THE SANTA CREU 1 SANT PAU HOSPITAL: ALMOST SIX CENTURIES OFHISTORY

FORALL THEIR ARTISTIC AND HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, THE HOSPITAL IS MORE THAN JUST TWO ARCHITECTURAL COMPLEXES, ONE GOTHIC, THE OTHER MODERNIST. FIRSTOF ALL, AS A CIVIC INSTITUTION, IT HAS ALWAYS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE LIFE OF THE CATALANCAPITAL AND ITS INHABITANTS. ALSO, MORE THAN ANYTHING, IT HAS BEEN A VERY IMPORTANT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

JOAN AGUT PUBLISHER

n 5th September 1401, from the tration of the hospital should be the re- The "Santa Creu" hospital was built on the see of Avignon, the schismatic sponsibility of four worthy people, two to site of the old "Hospital dlEn Colom", out- Pope Benedict XIII, Pere de Luna, be chosen from amongst the canons of side the first city walls, and marked off by issued the bull that was to mark the foun- Barcelona cathedral and the other two to the four streets Hospital, Carme, Egipcia- dation of the "Hospital de la Santa Creu" be nominated by the councillors. This ad- ques and Floristes de la Rambla. Work in Barcelona. This ratified the agreement ministrative system -"Most lllustrious Ad- was started in 1401 and went on until reached some months earlier between, on ministrationtl- has survived down to the 1450. The hospital precinct is one of the the one hand, the bishop of Barcelona present day. Originally, the hospitals that best examples of Catalan Gothic civic and his chapter and, on the other, repre- formed part of the "Casa de la Santa architecture and is in line with the note- senting the county town, the Consell de Creur' were those of "En Marcús", "En worthy buildings "Saló del Tinell", "Dras- Cenf. This agreement brought al1 the Colomi' and "En Vidal", to which were sanes" and "Llotia", amongst others. Later, Barcelona hospitals together under one later added those of "Santa Margarida" the Gothic hospital was added to with the organization and ruled that the adminis- and "Santa Eulalia". construction of the "Casa de la Convales- PLACES OF INTEREST

cenciatt, the church, the Royal Academy The "Santa Creu i Sant Pau" hospital is of Medicine, the nuns' convent and the one of the most important examples of administrative buildings. This architectural Modernist architecture. Leaving aside the complex has survived to the present day beauty and originality of the decorative and now houses various cultural insti- elements, the hospital was designed with tutions (the Catalan national library, the two basic ideas in mind: fint, that of a hos- lnstitut d'Estudis Catalans, the Massana pital complex made up of individual pavi- school of arts and crafts, the Royal Acad- lions, pleasantly set in open spaces and emy of Medicine, etc.). gardens, and second, an underground In 1892, the Tarragona banker, Pau Gil, service network that links them in a single resident in Paris, left four million pesetas in functional unit. Also worth mentioning is his will, for the construdion of a new hos- the spatial concept, according to which pital in Barcelona, on condition that it the pavilions are built following a syste- bear the name of his patron saint, Sant matic use of arches that create harmony Pau. In January 1 902, work started on the and unity within the group. The decorative new hospital, in the Guinardó quarter, elements acauire areat aesthetic im- under the direction of the Modernist portance and' are ii line with the style architect Lluís Domenech i Montaner. It Domenech i Montaner was to develop in was interrupted in April 191 1, when Pau the "Palau de la Música Catalana", prob- Gil's legacy ran out. To get things moving ably his greatest work. The materials used again, Pau Gil's executors donated the are brick, stone, marble and, especially, land and the unfinished buildings of the glasswork, tiles from Valencia, glazed ce- "Hospital de Sant Pau" to the Molt 11.1~~- ramics and mosaic. tre Administració. From then on, the hos- Obviously, for al1 their artistic and histori- pital has been called "Santa Creu i Sant cal importance, the "Santa Creu i Sant Pau". In 1914, the work was resumed Pau" hos~italis more than iust iwo archi- thanks to private donations. Construction tectural ~omplexes,one ~othicand one of the new hospital went on pavilion by Modernist. Fint of all, as a civic institution, pavilion and the complex was completed it has always played an important part in in 1926. the life of the Catalan capital and its inha- PLACES OF INTEREST

bitants. Also, more than anything, it has Catalan doctors have passed through its staff. This was a provisional arrangement been a very important school of medicine. halls, and when the Faculty of Medicine of intended to turn the hospital, which had In the fifteenth century, medical treatment the Autonomous University of Barcelona always worked as a private charity foun- was very rudimentary, as was knowledge was inaugurated, it gave most of its dation, into a public institution. For of the illnesses themselves, due to the pre- classes in the hospital, which once again whatever the reason, this obiective has carious state of science of the time. Re- became an important medical training not yet been reached. However, the "Sant ferences to smallpox, fevers, "foot and centre. In the last few years, the hospital Pau" hospital is today fully integrated in leg" illnesses and war or work iniuries has undergone remarkable interior re- the network of public hospitals. It is fi- provide evidence of the primitive role forms, in response to society's increasing nanced according to annual agreements played by medicine in those days. The need for better and more extensive hospi- signed with the lnstitut Catala de la Salut, hospital's subsequent development re- tal treatment. ~owada~s,hospitals are no 90 % of its patients are treated through flects the progress of medical history. longer a last resort for the poor and nee- the social security system and the rest are Modern medical science failed to emerge dy. Progress in medical technology, private or charity cases. Just like any other until the end of the eighteenth century or centred in the big hospitals, and wide- living organism, the "Santa Creu i Sant the beginning of the nineteenth, and this spread social security have made hospi- Pau" hospital has to face problems of al1 process is reflected in the hospital's own tals a public service for general use. Heart kinds. Of these, the main one concerns fi- evolution. It was here that Catalan doctors and marrow transplants and neurosur- nance: the rate of increase in the cost of trained and practised. In 1760, the "Royal gery are no more than the tip of an medical attention is greater than the College of Surgery" was founded, under iceberg of which the submerged part is of growth of the available resources. But this the auspices of the "Santa Creu" hospital, great medical and social significance. is a generalized problem in public health as a teaching centre which was to survive In 1978, the mayor of Barcelona, the and one which falls outside the control of until 1907, when the Barcelona Faculty of archbishop and the president of the Ge- the hospital management. Almost 600 Medicine was created. neralitat agreed that the Molt 1l.lustre Ad- years of history and a first-class iob, both In modern times, the Santa Creu i Sant ministració should hand over the running medically and socially speaking, guaran- Pau hospital has made a considerable of the hospital to a board of governors tee the continued existence of one of contribution to the development of medi- representing the three institutions -Town Catalonia's most prestigious civic and sci- cine in Catalonia. All the most famous Hall, Church and Generalitat and hospital entific institutions.