I See Through my LeNs: October 2019

"The History of the Hospital Sant Pau"

"In 1348, the black plague spread in Barcelona and as a result about one third of the population died. With this terrible apocalypse, people realized the need for an organized healthcare system more and more.

At the beginning of the 15th century, a comprehensive hospital complex was built to bring the six existing hospitals in Barcelona under one roof. The origin of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is located in the district "El Raval". The former hospital building at its original location is a magnificent example of Gothic civil architecture. Antoni Gaudí died in the hospital in 1926 after a traffic accident. Today it houses the medical faculty and the Catalan State Library.

In the late nineteenth century, thanks to increasing industrialization, economic and social growth in Spain and a major expansion of Barcelona's urban area took place. Health care also made a leap into scientific medicine and had to face new hygienic principles. In addition, the buildings in the narrow neighborhood El Raval were too small and it was planned to expand the area of the hospital.

In 1902, the legacy of the banker Pau Gil made it possible to build a new hospital. Thus, on January 15, 1902, the construction work could begin with the laying of the foundation stone at its current location - only about 1,000 metres from Sagrada Familia. The hospital was named "Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau" in the banker's honor. A good thirty years later, on January 16, 1930, the new hospital was handed over to King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
After almost 80 years, the hospital moved to the new buildings right next door and the historic facility is open to visitors including the wards.

An Early Example of Construction Sustainably
The facility is an example of sustainable construction and efficient energy management. On the basis of geothermal installations, which provided heat supply to various pavilions of the hospital complex in the form of almost 400 wells over 100 meters deep. For reasons of hygiene, the whole area was laid out on a slope: warm air pulls up - so the ventilation system was developed in a way that all bacteria and viruses are pulled away from the patients with the natural air flow.

The chosen building materials are made of durable building materials, which fulfill the function of a hospital. As a typical part of modernistic architecture we find a striking mix of brick, natural stone and ceramics. The predominantly processed material is red brick, which was used exclusively for facades, in combination with natural stone, which was used for all decorative, architectural elements, reliefs and sculptures. Additionally you can find shiny ceramic stone in the cladding of the domes, roofs and mosaics, as well as in the interior ceiling designs.

Since 1997, the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List and in 2001 celebrated its 600th anniversary".
https://www.barcelona.de/en/barcelona-hospital-santa-creu.html

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On a presonal note:

I actually did not know that this was a hospital.

I came here because it looked beautiful.

I paid E15 for entrance...ok..quite pricey, so I might as well make the most of it.

The moment I entered, it radiated with cool air, and

kinda felt eerie, especially,

when this appeared in front of me.