St Pau Hospital Barcelona

The colourful back blips continue. This is back blip 4 of, oh I don't know, many. All of which are tagged #incredibacks19

The St Pau Hospital (no longer a hospital but only since 2009) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and yet almost no-one visits it, perhaps preferring instead queues outside the Sagrada. It was designed by the man who trained Gaudi, and you can see the influences in the ceramic work all over the place.

The Hospital was built in the early decades of the C20th and was revolutionary in many ways. Where previously hospitals were single buildings with all the various ailments inside, this hospital was built in blocks, so that infections did not spread. Each block was served by underground tunnels that allowed movement of medicines and people away from the seriously ill or the public. 

Every part of the building inside and of course out was lined with ceramics because they are easy to keep clean, and even the edges of the rooms and indeed the underground corridors were rounded - no corners for dirt to hide in! Every room was brightly lit with large windows and ventilated to keep fresh cool air circulating. It really is a feat of architecture!

And yet almost nobody visits. You may recall the bird poo incident, when we went to book tickets for todays tour. They told us not to bother (but we did) because there's always space on the tours... If you've been to Barcelona and not visited St Pau you've missed a treat.