an other kind of art

You know, architecture is (at least here in Germany) a kind of art. Usually architecture represents a certain style of living as a style of an epoch, like Art Nouveau or Art Deco or Bauhaus or many others. But, there are also other architects around. They are unique in their style. I.e. think of the Canadian architect Frank Gehry, who creates buildings with a unique style. I visited Prague and Düsseldorf, where you can find some of his buildings. Others can be found in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA), Bilbao (Spain) or Panama City.

Back in 1852 a (later) famous architect was born in Barcelona: Antonio Gaudi. He built many very interesting and unique buildings in the city. I’ll show some of them in my next posts including his master piece La Sagrada Familia (The holy family), a church. This was his last project. He worked on the church until he died as a result of an accident in  1926.

But, first I want to introduce you to the Hostpital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (hospital of the holy cross and St. Paul). This hospital was donated by the banker Pau Gil. Come around and have a look at this fantastic campus. They started back in 1902, but in 1911 when only 1/4 of the planned buildings were ready all the money was spent. In 1912  the second building time was started. This period was financed from the budget, planned for the relocation of another clinic located in the inner city. In 1930 the campus was finished and the hospital was handed over to its purpose.

Now, it’s no longer in use as a hospital. Instead it’s a UNESCO world heritage since 1997. The clinic now uses a new building complex (built 2003-2009) right next to this one, while the old campus is about to be renovated. You can already visit some of the old bed halls and get an idea, how much changed in hospital care during the last about 100 years.

I guess, it will be a regular museum soon. Currently you can visit it for free. It’s open from 11 a.m. But, expect to wait outside in a queue for a long time. When we arrived at 10 a.m. (not knowing about the opening hour at 11:00) the queue already was very long and we were able to enter the campus at 11:45. When we left the campus at about 3 p.m., there wasn’t a queue anymore, but inside it was quite crowded. So, choose well. 🙂

Take care!

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