The Institut Verdaguer, in the Ciutadella park, has been a secondary school for some decades, but in the past it had a very different use, being the governor’s palace of the fortress that Philip V ordered to be built after the fall of Barcelona in 1714. It was built on what had been the convent of Santa Clara, which had to be demolished as it was badly damaged by the fighting. However, in one of the classrooms one of the beautiful fountains that supplied water to the campus remains.
It is an old fountain, now unused, dominated by a ceramic panel of white and green triangular tiles and three small medallions.
As compensation, a good part of the old Palau Reial Major, in the Plaza del Rei, including the Saló del Tinell and the Palau del Lloctinent, was granted to the Poor Clare nuns. The fountain is, thus, one of the few vestiges of the old convent. The Marés Museum preserves others that the nuns took with them.
The governor’s palace of the Ciutadella was built between 1718 and 1727 and is one of the only three buildings that were preserved after the demolition of the fortress in the mid-19th century, along with the Parlament, which was the arsenal, and the chapel next to it. to the institute, which is currently a military church.
In 1888, during the Universal Exposition, it was a royal palace, and one of the classrooms on the first floor was the bedroom of the queen regent Maria Cristina, widow of Alfonso XII and mother of Alfonso XIII.
After the exhibition was over, it was the first headquarters of the Barcelona firefighters, who used the patio for practices, which is why the sgraffito, restored a few years ago, was badly damaged.
In the 1930s, the building was used for teaching, first hosting the pedagogical experiment of the Republic Institute-school. Today the center preserves part of the legacy of this experience in jealously guarded display cases. After the civil war, it continued as an educational center until today.
