Cutting diagonally across the strict grid of the Eixample, the Avinguda de Gaudi links two of Barcelona's greatest works of Modernisme: the Sagrada Familia at one end and the Hospital de Sant Pau at the other. The short, tree-lined avenue is one of the few streets to break the district's regular pattern. It came into being in the early 20th century, when work on the new Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau created the need for a street connecting the hospital with the basilica. Laid out to a plan by the urbanist Leon Jaussely, it opened in 1927. The avenue has changed names several times, originally honouring the dictator Primo de Rivera, then taking the name of the architect Antoni Gaudi during the Second Republic, and finally settling on that name officially in 1962. It was among the first public recognitions of Gaudi. From the Sagrada Familia end the view takes in the Nativity facade, the part of the church built directly under Gaudi's own hand, while the far end opens onto the colourful pavilions of Sant Pau, designed by Lluis Domenech i Montaner. Once carrying heavy traffic and trams, the avenue was redeveloped in the mid-1980s to a design by the architect Marius Quintana, who gave it the central pedestrian boulevard seen today, with restricted vehicle access and rows of bollards. Along its roughly 850 metres run cafes, restaurants and neighbourhood shops, and it is set with ornamental wrought-iron streetlamps, making it a pleasant walk between the two monuments. The stroll between the basilica and the hospital takes only about ten to fifteen minutes on flat, easy ground, and has become a recommended route for visitors seeing both sites in one outing. Together with the Passeig de Gracia, the avenue is often described as one of the city's principal Modernista streets, framing the architecture at either end.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Avinguda de Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain

Opening Date: 01/01/1927