Palau de la Música Catalana or Sant Pau: what each Domènech i Montaner visit is

The short answer

The Palau de la Música Catalana and Sant Pau are two different visits to two buildings by the same architect, Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The Palau is a concert hall that is still in use, and its building tours are a separate product from its concerts.[1] Sant Pau is the former Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, a site of modernista pavilions that you walk through on your own, with an audio guide or on a scheduled guided tour.[11][12][10]

The two are run by different foundations and sell their own tickets, but each sells a combined ticket that includes the other.[13][2] XTOUR does not publish prices, opening hours or visit lengths for either; both operators set them on their own sites.

The Palau de la Música Catalana: a concert hall you can tour

The Palau was built between 1905 and 1908 by Domènech i Montaner as the headquarters of the Orfeó Català choral society, funded through public subscription, according to the Palau's history page.[4] It stands in the Sant Pere quarter of Ciutat Vella, at Carrer del Palau de la Música 4-6.[1]

It is run by the Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Catalana Foundation, which describes itself as the private entity that manages both the Palau and the Orfeó Català's choirs, a role it has held since 2012. Its board has 22 members and is chaired by the president of the Orfeó Català Association; three seats go to the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and the Ministry of Culture.[5]

The visit is a tour of the building, not a concert. The Palau's FAQ says the two are separate experiences and concert tickets are bought independently.[1] Its ticket page sells guided, audio-guided and self-guided tours, themed visits and premium options.[2] The visitor route, according to the Palau, includes the Concert Hall, the grand staircase, the foyer and the Sala Lluís Millet.[1]

Because the hall is a working venue, the Palau's own regulations say guided tours may be modified or cancelled, and that the closure of particular spaces does not entitle visitors to a refund. The same page says late arrivals are not admitted once a visit has started and that tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded. Its ticket office sells same-day tickets only, and its FAQ recommends booking guided, themed and group visits in advance.[3]

The Palau's practical-information page contradicts itself on luggage. Its regulations say there is no cloakroom or luggage storage service, while the FAQ further down the same page says large bags and suitcases are not permitted and that a cloakroom is available in the Petit Palau lobby.[3] XTOUR cannot tell which is current; travelling light avoids the question.

Sant Pau: a hospital site turned heritage visit

Sant Pau's history page traces the institution to 1401, when six small Barcelona hospitals were merged into the Hospital de la Santa Creu. The modernista complex came from the legacy of Pau Gil i Serra, a Catalan banker in Paris who died in 1896 and left money for a new hospital; the project went to Domènech i Montaner. He designed 48 buildings, of which 27 were built and only 16 followed his original modernista design; construction began in 1902, and King Alfonso XIII inaugurated the hospital on 16 January 1930.[8]

Healthcare left the pavilions in autumn 2009 for a modern building on the northern side of the complex, and the pavilions were restored.[8] The site is owned by the Fundació Privada Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, whose members are the Cathedral Chapter, Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia.[7] Sant Pau says the proceeds from visits go to preserving the complex, supporting the hospital's healthcare and research, and social projects.[6]

Visitors can explore on their own with a map and information staff in the spaces, or add an interactive audio guide, which Sant Pau offers in ten languages.[12][10] Scheduled guided tours are fewer: Sant Pau's guided-visit page lists Catalan and Spanish tours on weekends and holidays, and English and French tours on Saturdays.[11] Its visit-planning page adds that tours in other languages are available on request, that there are no guided tours on free-entry days, and that the route may change depending on which spaces are available.[14]

Two Sant Pau rules are easy to miss. Guided visits on the site may only be given by Sant Pau's own guides, tourist guides trained by the Generalitat de Catalunya, or teachers with their students, so a guide needs one of those qualifications to lead a visit inside.[10] And according to Sant Pau's planning page, bags that do not fit its 37 x 37 cm lockers are not permitted inside the site.[14]

Sant Pau's own pages disagree on two small facts. Its history page gives Domènech i Montaner's dates as 1850-1923, while its page on the architect gives 1849-1923.[9][8] Its planning page names the nearest metro stop, Sant Pau | Dos de Maig, on line L4 in one place and on line L5 in another.[14] Check the line on the transport operator's own map before relying on either.

How the combined tickets work

Both operators sell a Palau-Sant Pau combined ticket, and the two descriptions fit together. Sant Pau's combined-ticket page says the buyer chooses a date for the Palau, keeps the ticket, and can enter Sant Pau without a prior reservation, with up to three months to complete both visits.[13] The Palau's ticket page describes the same product as a "free visit to both venues" and lists a price for it, so "free" there does not mean free of charge; the page does not say whether it means unguided.[2]

The Palau and Sant Pau each also sell a combined ticket with Casa Milà (La Pedrera).[2] Sant Pau additionally sells a "Domènech i Montaner" pass covering Sant Pau, the Palau and the Cafè Vienès at Casa Fuster, another building by the architect.[13] Each operator sets its own terms for what it sells, and XTOUR has not compared those terms beyond what the two pages say.

One UNESCO listing, two places

The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Naples in December 1997, inscribed "The Palau de la Musica and the Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona" under one entry, number 804, describing the two buildings as masterpieces of the imaginative and exuberant Art Nouveau that flowered in early 20th-century Barcelona.[15] The Palau's history page dates its inscription to 4 December 1997, and Sant Pau's history page also gives 1997.[8][4]

The listing is a designation over two separate buildings, not a single site. XTOUR treats the Palau and Sant Pau as two separate places, and treats Barcelona's Gaudí buildings, covered in the Gaudí sites guide, as a different UNESCO property again.

The two at a glance

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish prices, opening hours, tour lengths or the times of guided tours, which both operators change and list on their own pages. It has not assessed accessibility at either site beyond noting that both publish accessibility information. It has no routing data, so it does not say how to get between the two or whether they fit into the same outing. It does not cover the Palau's concert programme.

For Barcelona as a base, see the Barcelona destination page and the Spain travel guide.