Plaça de Sant Felip Neri

This photo is of the passage to the historic Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, located in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. The plaça is named after an Italian Jesuit preacher who was made a saint.

Plaça de Sant Felip Neri

The baroque church that forms one side of the plaça was built in 1752, sitting on the grounds of a medieval cemetery called Montjuïc del Bisbe. Antoni Gaudí was on his way to this church on the day he died after being hit by a tram on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes.

The façade of the church is heavily pockmarked as a result of a bombing raid that took place during the Spanish Civil War on the 30th of January 1938. The bombing killed 42 people, mostly children. It is also said that summary executions took place here after the fall of Barcelona to the Nationalists in 1939, with bullet holes in the wall of the church still visible.

The boutique Hotel Neri Relais & Châteaux overlooks the historic square.