Hidden Gaudí mosaic found
Barcelona revealed a little‑known early Gaudí mosaic (designed in 1881) inside the Sant Pacià church — an important early piece by Gaudí that’s perfect for pairing with nearby food-market stops away from tourist crowds El mosaico oculto de un Gaudí temprano en una iglesia de Barcelona.
The floor mosaic runs down the church’s central aisle and crosses the transept, forming a continuous decorative band across Sant Pacià’s nave. (meet.barcelona) The executed work is credited to marble worker Luigi Pellerin, who carried out Gaudí’s drawings for the pavement. (barcelona.cat) Historical records note that Pellerin also taught at the Provincial School of Architecture and worked with Gaudí during his formative years. (city.cat) Sant Pacià was attacked and partly burned during the anti‑clerical Tragic Week of 1909, when it was recorded as the second parish in the district to be set on fire. (barcelona.cat) During the Spanish Civil War the building was requisitioned and used as a Durruti‑run communal soup kitchen, and the site later served as a grain store until the diocese repurchased it in 1923. (meet.barcelona) Conservation work on the mosaic was carried out between 1986 and 1988 by Lluís Bru, a specialist whose studio restored several Modernisme mosaics in Barcelona. (modernismobarcelona.com) The pavement includes floral and geometric panels plus the letters J and M and the Greek symbols Alpha and Omega — details visible at the cruciform and altar‑foot zones. (modernismobarcelona.com) Sant Pacià stands in Sant Andreu (C/ Monges 27) a short walk from the century‑old Mercat de Sant Andreu in Plaça del Mercadal, the covered food market whose current steel structure dates from 1914. (meet.barcelona)
