The Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, The Old Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is on the street Hospital in the Ravel part of the Gothic neighbourhood.

The buildings consist of a 15th-century gothic core with baroque and classical additions. It is one of the earliest medical complexes in Europe.

The name means "The Old Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau" because a new hospital with the same name in the Eixample area of Barcelona.

 Click here to find the new hospital of the same name, which is also a tourist attraction in Barcelona

The old hospital of the same name is still in the the centre of Barcelona and date from the 15th century. 

The old hospital is no longer a medical facility but houses an art school (Escola Massana) and teh 1.5 million volume Biblioteca de Catalunya (National Library of Catalonia) and La Capella, an art exhibition centre.

There was a hospital on this site as far back as 1024. In the 15th century this was expanded to contralise all the hospitals in Barcelona.

But the modern age meant that at the end of the 1920's it was hopelessly overstretched and the new hospital Hospital Sant Pau was built.

At the end the old hospital was also used for poor patients and one of the last and most famous patients was Antoni Gaudí, who died here in 1926. after being struck by a tram and because of his shabby appearance he was not recognized and thought to be homeless. You can still see the archives recording Gaudí's admittance and photographs of the infirmary and the private room where he died.

It was also at the old Hospital Sant Pau that Picasso painted one of his first important pictures, "La Dona Morta" which means The Dead Woman, in 1903. This painting was later loaned permantently to the Picasso musuem in Barcelona.

The premises are now no longer used for medical purposes. It was taken over by the council in 1926 and now houses cultural institutions, among them Catalonia’s main library, la Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya

Things to see in include:

-The neo-classical lecture theatre complete with revolving marble dissection table

-The patio of the old Casa de Convalescència (Convalescence House), with its Renaissance columns and in the vestibule the tiled lovely baroque ceramic murals depict scenes from of Sant Pau (St Paul) including an bloody decapitation scene.

-La Capella, the former hospital chapel, is now a space for exhibitions of emerging art throughout the year

-The beautifully shady colonnaded courtyard is a popular spot for reading or eating lunch