Old hospital of La Santa Creu. House of convalescence

Currently the headquarters of the Foundation of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, this building was known above all for its glazed solariums. Moreover, it has a chapel that divided the building into two wings, for men and women respectively.

The Santa Creu hospital was founded in 1401, under the reign of king Martí I, following several plagues of pestilence and hunger that struck the city in the final years of the 14th century. With its creation the different hospitals that were spread out over the city (Sant Llàtzer, d'en Marcús des Pelegrins) were grouped together into one single entity.

The building, the work of the master builder Guillem Abiell and extended on several occasions, is a good example of Catalan Gothic civil style. They include the cloister and the three naves of the two floors that surround them. The hospital area also includes a small church. In the early XXth century when the facilities became obsolete, the architect Domènech I Montaner was commission to build the new hospital on land acquired by the hospital and donated by the banker Pau Gil, on the provisio that the name of Sant Pau be added to that of Santa Creu.

In 1926 the old hospital building was acquired by Barcelona City Council who restored it, and in 1931 it was declared a historic and artistic monument of national interest. It is currently home to the Library of Catalonia, two public libraries of the Regional Government of Barcelona, the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (the Institute of Catalan Studies) and the Escola Massana d'Art i Disseny( the Massana School of Art and Design).