The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies) is located in a large baroque building, built between 1629 and 1680 thanks to the bequests of Lucrècia de Gualba, Victòria Astor, Helena Soler and Pau Ferran.

Next to the Institute for Catalan Studies, there is the Hospital de la Santa Creu. It is a priceless treasure of Catalan gothic architecture. Its origins go back to 1219, when Pope Honorius III decided to concede shelter and protection to the hospital of canon Guillem Colom, a building which had formerly been the house of Pere Prim. This same building, although only a small part of the original is conserved, was later known as the Hospital de la Santa Creu.

Annexed to the hospital, in front of the Institute for Catalan Studies, is the third monumental building, the Col·legi de Cirurgia de Barcelona (1762), a neo-classic building containing the operating theatres and school, which still conserves a circular operating theatre, an amphitheatre, with the marble table for dissections.