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The future museo Gaudí at the Teresianas sparks controversy among local residents and the school community
The project to open a museum dedicated to Antoni Gaudí inside the Col·legi de les Teresianes has sparked controversy in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. While its promoters see it as an opportunity to showcase a lesser-known work by the architect to the public, many families at the centre have concerns about how school activities, heritage, and tourism will coexist.
The proposal plans to turn part of the historic Ganduxer building, designed by Gaudí at the end of the XIX century, into a museum. The plan covers around 3,000 square metres spread over several floors, with exhibition spaces, temporary galleries, and an immersive experience focused on the architect’s work and creative process.
The opening is scheduled for 2028, but the debate has already reached the neighbourhood. Families from the school complain that they have not received clear, complete, and timely information about the real scope of the project. They also fear that the arrival of visitors will change the daily life of the centre and reduce spaces linked to educational use.
The discontent is not only about the cultural content of the future museum, but also about how it has been communicated. Parents say that a transformation of this scale cannot be presented as a simple heritage addition if it affects a functioning school, with pupils, schedules, access, and its own needs.
The promoters argue that the project will allow the public to access a unique piece by Gaudí that has so far been almost exclusively reserved for the educational and religious community. The building is one of the architect’s least visited works in Barcelona, far from the tourist exposure of the Sagrada Família, la Pedrera, or Casa Batlló.
The Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, for now, has distanced itself from the debate. The municipal government has stated that it has not received any formal request for permits or urban planning modifications, so there is not yet a file on which to make an official statement.
The controversy has also entered the political arena. Municipal groups and collectives opposed to the project have requested explanations about the compatibility between a museum open to the public and an active educational centre. The underlying question is whether the heritage value justifies introducing a new tourist flow into a school space.
Sarrià-Sant Gervasi is well acquainted with this tension between heritage, neighbourhood life, and new uses. In this case, the discussion has a particularly sensitive nuance: it is not about opening an empty building, but about intervening in a school with history, community, and daily activity.
The case of the Teresianas leaves an open question for Barcelona. The city wants to showcase more Gaudí and diversify its cultural map, but every new tourist space needs to fit in with the life that already exists around it. In Ganduxer, that balance has yet to be found.