Jardins de Sant Pau del Camp

Sant Pau, 99

These gardens surround the Romanesque Sant Pau del Camp monastery, one of Barcelona's architectural treasures.

The wide grass parterres that form a small hill are the main attractions of these gardens, which surround the Romanesque monastery they are named after. Although the building is at street level, the park’s design allows it to be admired from the top of the small hill that crowns the grounds. There are some semicircular paths between the parterres, dug out between the medium-high walls with stone benches comfortable enough to sit on for a while.

History

It is not known exactly when this monastery was built, but it was constructed on the outskirts of the city, among the fields and gardens surrounding the walled site on the way to Montjuïc.
The gravestone found in the monastery in 1596 and which sealed the tomb of Count Guifré Borrell, the son of Guifré el Pilós (d. 911), would suggest the monastery already existed at that time and, that if a member of Barcelona’s aristocracy was buried there, it was a place of considerable importance. It was a Benedictine monastery until it was abandoned by the monks in 1835. In 1987 it was declared a National Monument .

Biodiversity

They boast impressive trees, above all mulberries (Morus alba), tipus (Tipuana tipu) and poplars (Populus alba ‘Pyramidalis’). The hill ends in a small square shaded by tipus, a privileged place for watching users working away at the urban allotments located in the gardens, just behind the monastery. There is a large gravelled space nearby, protected by the wide boughs of shady trees, where there are bowls courts and a children’s play area. It is bounded by a wall covered in bougainvilleas.

Art and Architecture

The Sant Pau del Camp church is a single nave with a Greek-cross floor plan. It has three apses and a dome with transept. The inner ceiling is barrel-vaulted, while the portal is framed by two columns finished off with two old Visigothic capitals made from marble. The tympanum contains an image of Jesus flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul. Note too the inscription calling on visitors to enter the church.
The outside of the building is decorated with lesenes featuring human faces, fantastic animals and plants. Possibly the most characteristic feature of the monastery is the small cloister. This stands at the south end of the church, on a noticeably square floor. It has a square column at each corner and four columns between these. There are pairs of arches between the columns, supported by columns with capitals.
The main feature of the cloister can be seen in the lobed arches. These are not all the same, as there are some with three and others with five lobes per arch. The columns and capitals are not uniform either but different sizes, and the decoration they display varies considerably too: while most of the images are of plants, you can also see fantastic animals.

  • Phone number
    Information: 010
  • Titularity
    Public center
Address:
Sant Pau, 99
Districte:
Ciutat Vella
Neighborhood:
el Raval
City:
Barcelona

Timetable

Observations
Hora de tancament
aproximada, en funció de
l'horari solar (tanquen
quan es fa fosc, al capvespre)