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Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu
The National Library of Catalonia
Santa Creu is one of the oldest hospitals in the world, founded in 1024 and rebuilt here in 1401, with the intention of concentrating all the sick of Barcelona in one place. In the 16th century it had 500 beds; in the 17th century there were 5,000.
Relocated in 1926 to Domènech i Montaner’s Modernista masterpiece Hospital Sant Pau near the Sagrada Família (one of the last patients to die here before the final move was Gaudí), the hospital’s long vaulted halls now shelter books instead of patients: the two huge Gothic arches on either side of the courtyard are the entrance to the Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona’s largest library, with 1.5 million volumes.
Images by Josep Renalias, Creative Commons License, Literat Tours, Wellcome Collection, Creative Commons Attribution