The grandmother who at 100 years old walked... thanks to a dog's tibia

"Was Gaudí the one married to Gala?". "Is there a McDonald's in here?". No, it's not a joke: these are some of the questions that visitors to the Sagrada Família have asked Tate Cabré. Also – it must be said – many others have asked her pertinent questions, which denoted a high cultural level. Tate Cabré is a tourist guide – and a journalist – and leads a lot of groups to the Sagrada Família. Her specialty is Modernism.

I have visited the Hospital de Sant Pau a few times, which stopped admitting patients years ago and now receives visitors, holds cultural and scientific activities. But with Tate, everything is different. In the Domènech i Montaner Hall, we glimpse, on one side, the Sagrada Família rising imposingly, and on the opposite side, the pavilions of the old hospital, with the surgery one in the middle. The pavilions are low-rise buildings, with large windows that invite light in. It is the largest Modernist complex in the world. It is a complex of great beauty. The architect was convinced that beauty (also) heals.

The hall that bears his name is extremely high and at a medium height there is a balcony with an inscription in Gothic letters: “May the Lord protect the benefactors and the inmates of this Holy House, both on Earth and in Heaven, and inspire sentiments of charity towards it. Amen". "It's an elegant way of asking for subsidies," observes Tate. The Hospital de Sant Pau was built thanks to a few benefactors. The main one, Pau Gil, a Barcelona banker residing in Paris. Gil died without direct descendants and left a good legacy to build a new hospital for the poor, on the condition that it be called Sant Pau.

We go down a subterranean tunnel to visit some pavilions. "These underground galleries were intended to transfer patients from the pavilions to the operating room," comments Tate. We are in the Sant Rafael pavilion. Here we must talk about another patron: Rafael Rabell, who donated part of his fortune – and also his name – to build it. There are several display cases with old medical instruments.

Tate not only tells anecdotes, but also receives them. Josep Tort, from Vilafranca, made a visit to this place with great emotion. His maternal grandmother, when she was a child, injured her leg. It began to gangrene. At sixteen, she was admitted. She was attended by an elderly doctor, but her leg did not improve. One day, a very young doctor appeared: it was Dr. Trueta. He examined her, along with other doctors. They went to the next office to debate. The girl got out of bed and stood listening behind the door: "We'll cut here and here," she heard, horrified. She wrote a letter to her parents to take her out... But the doctor reassured her: they would not amputate, but would replace the damaged bone – the tibia – with a dog's bone. The new bone fused. The grandmother lived to be 101 years old and could walk until the end.

Trueta, who became head of surgery at the Hospital de Sant Pau, had a reputation for healing wounds very well: he removed the bad tissue and left the leg immobilized with plaster. A simple intervention, but one that prevented infections. He saved many lives during the Civil War, at the end of which he went into exile in England, and there he continued to work. Many soldiers were infinitely grateful to him. He was a strong candidate for the Nobel Prize in medicine, but the Franco authorities pressured to prevent it.

Let's now enter the Historical Archive, below the lobby, the old hub of the hospital center, where entrance records were kept and where the carts with patients heading to the pavilions passed through. The temperature inside is always low. The star piece is the seven volumes of the hospital construction project. "The Hospital de la Santa Creu, the origin of this hospital, was founded to accommodate the poor, the homeless, the foundlings, the orphans, the insane... Initially, it was not for healing," comments Miquel Terreu, head of the archive.

"Doctors in this hospital visited the sick free of charge. This charitable system worked until the sixties of the 20th century," highlights Tate. Vocation and – if necessary – volunteer work have been – and are – two aptitudes of good doctors.

625 years since its foundation

Even if unfinished, the Sant Pau Hospital is, alongside the Palau de la Música Catalana, the most important work by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Built between 1902 and 1930, some of the great artists who had already collaborated on the Palau de la Música, such as sculptors Pau Gargallo and Eusebi Arnau, participated in it. It is the apotheosis of the decorative arts. After the death of Domènech i Montaner, his son Pere Domènech Roura continued to direct the works. This year marks the 625th anniversary of the founding of the hospital, an institution created to respond to the healthcare needs of medieval Barcelona and the origin of the current Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.