The tragic fate of the extremely poor buried in the Raval

BarcelonaHeFormer Hospital of the Holy Cross It has a long history. King Martin the Humane witnessed the laying of the building's foundation stone on February 13, 1401. It was a huge, pioneering building for its time, located where the Biblioteca de Catalunya now stands, and it united six hospitals. It was in operation until 1926 and left behind a very important documentary and archaeological legacy.

During the works being carried out in the Doctor Fleming Gardens, skeletal remains dating from the 17th and 19th centuries have surfaced from those who died in the hospital. Between 1629 and 1680, a cemetery was created, called the Corralet, and the anatomy classroom was built, where unclaimed corpses were studied. In the southern part of the square, where the 18th-century remains have been found, there is a certain dignity: the corpses were deposited in wooden coffins and buried dressed, with rosaries and medals. They had their arms intertwined and were buried supine. "There wasn't much space. So far, we've excavated a meter and a half, and we've found three burial levels. Perhaps on the same day, they buried one box on top of the other and on either side, touching each other," explains Vanesa Triay, head of the excavations. They were very simple and very small wooden boxes, just the right size to fit their shoulders.

Dumped haphazardly into the cistern.

So far, 25 men, women, and children have been exhumed. Further north, near Carme Street, there is no order: the remains were dumped haphazardly inside a cistern measuring six by eight meters. Many are found face down, a placement that was considered punitive in both Roman and medieval times. In the mid-19th century, a courtyard was created where the cemetery once stood and the packed earth containing bone remains was moved. Much of this earth, as observed in the excavations, was used to fill the water cistern for the wash houses, which had fallen into disuse. Twelve individuals have been identified so far, but there could be many more. In the same area, the remains of the wash house and laboratory structures have been found, as well as rooms for "the cart of the deceased" and for the "fallen from grace." The anatomy classroom and the morgue for dissections were also located there, as can be seen in the cartographic project of the Garriga and Roca barracks (1858). Most of those buried there were extremely poor, or simply no one ever claimed them.

The skeletal remains and the medallions, buttons, and rosaries that have been found will be transferred to the Collections Center of the Barcelona History Museum in the Zona Franca. "The study could be very interesting, because it is a cemetery associated with a hospital and we will be able to analyze the pathologies, but also the type of diet and how medicine, anatomical studies, and the methodology for dissecting corpses have evolved. We have found sawed arms and skulls, post-mortem drilling..." The study could also be useful to get a picture of how those who had next to nothing lived, because the majority were a very vulnerable population.

Putrid Vapor

The discovery also confirms that this space, called the Corralet, functioned as an active cemetery for longer than previously thought, even after Charles III's decree of 1787 prohibiting burials within the city center. The deceased had to be transferred to the Old Cemetery (Poblenou). The work Opinion (1784), from the Medical-Practical Academy of Barcelona, ​​​​already says that the Corralet cemetery was often saturated because it took in a large number of corpses. It is detailed that bodies used in dissections were buried there, as well as people without resources. In the 18th century, the situation was unsustainable. "All those who die in the hospital without money [which is the majority], are buried in a place called Corralet, where there is a large hole where they are thrown and covered with a little earth. This place fills all the houses on Carme y Cervelló Street with a putrid vapor," can be read in the Opinion. The head of the Barcelona Archaeology Service, Josep Pujades, explains that they knew there were skeletal remains, but they weren't sure what they would find: "The locals always say that whenever work is done here, bones always come out, and they're right."

There is ample evidence that the site was saturated with skeletal remains. In fact, every time work has been carried out in the gardens of the Library of Catalonia, skeletal remains have come out. Between 1925 and 1931, a wall between the library and the square was demolished, and a gruesome discovery was made: hundreds of skulls filled the wall, forming crosses and other symbols. Photographers Alexandre Merletti and Jaume Ribera photographed it, and this graphic testimony is preserved in the Barcelona Photographic Archive. There are many legends and stories surrounding the Corralet cemetery, which owes its name to the fact that, before it became a hospital pit, there was once a theater with that name on that spot. It even appears in the novel Uncertain glory of Joan Sales, and it is Trini who describes him: "He would sometimes stop in front of the playpen, which is what we called the morgue; it faced a cross alley and was only separated from passersby by a gate. I had to hold on to the gate and stand on tiptoe to see the dead; there were usually three or four of them every day, sometimes more. As they were deposited facing the gate, the best view was their bare feet: yellow feet... and dirty. How sad those feet were!