Col·legi de les Teresianes

This isolated, elegant and sober building, which looks like an unassailable fortress, is the amazing convent school designed by Gaudí for a community of nuns from the Order of Saint Teresa of Jesus. This imposing building stands behind railings and among gardens, and has been used as a school ever since it opened.

In 1887, a community of nuns from the Order of Saint Teresa of Jesus decided to build a school in Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, a village in the north of Barcelona. An unknown architect had already laid the foundation stone and established the floor plan of the building when Gaudí took over the project. He altered the actual structure of the building and left his own highly personal imprint on the ensemble.

Unlike his other projects, Gaudí had to work with a limited budget and this explains the use of austere materials, such as brick and reconstituted stone, or the plaster walls inside. However, Gaudí's genius is evident in the structural system comprising two large skylights and tall, slender parabolic arches which allow natural light to flood the interior hallways. The façade, which also features parabolic arches around the windows, is surmounted by an unusual series of merlons crowned by Saint Teresa's doctoral biretta. The religious symbology is completed by the turrets at either end of the building, which are surmounted by a four-armed cross.