Església de Sant Eugeni I Papa
Built: 1880-1883
Founded: 1878
Function: Parish church; former hospital chapel
Address: Londres 40
The present Neo-Romanesque parish church dedicated to St. Eugenius I, Pope from 654-657 A.D., was originally the chapel for the Hospital of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The hospital was founded in 1878 by a group of well-to-do Catholic ladies to provide medical care for the poor of the city, free of cost. The institution expanded multiple times in the following decades, until in 1933 it was taken over by the secular Autonomous University of Barcelona. The hospital itself is still in existence today, and is the largest private hospital in the city. In addition to providing medical services it is also the location for the Autonomous University’s medical school.
With the increasing expansion and modernization of the hospital complex next door, the chapel no longer served much of a purpose and it was decided that it should be made independent of the faculty. The parish was formally created in 1945, and the chapel given to it by the Archdiocese. The dedication of the parish to St. Eugenius was made in honor of Pope Pius XII, who was the Pontiff at the time and whose given name was Eugenio Pacelli.
The chapel itself was designed by Jeroni Granell i Barrera, who also designed the original buildings of the hospital. Fortunately, the former hospital chapel did not suffer any damage during the Leftist uprisings of the 20th century, including the Civil War, probably because it was attached to a hospital, and hospitals were needed by both sides to treat the wounded. As a result, much of its charming exterior remains the same.
Here we see the exterior of the church:
And here we see some shots of the interior, decorated for Christmas:
