Horta-Guinardó · 41
la Vall d'Hebron
La Vall d'Hebron is one of the four Olympic areas of 1992 on Barcelona's northern hills: a housing estate begun in 1968, widened for the Games with sports grounds, the Pavelló de la República and a giant box of matches.[1][2][3]
Stand at the corner of Avinguda del Cardenal Vidal i Barraquer and Carrer del Pare Mariana, in front of Els mistos. A fallen box of matches measuring 20.73 × 10.06 × 13.21 metres holds five matches pointing up, one of them lit, with four spent ones scattered around it. Where the park is now there were wasteland, vegetable gardens and ravines.[4][2][1][3]
La Vall d'Hebron is a neighbourhood of apartment blocks, sports grounds and parkland on the seaward side of the Ronda de Dalt. The Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, which gives the name its fame, stands across the ring road in Montbau, not in this neighbourhood; here are the Olympic grounds and the housing around them.[1][2]
The name is far older than the estate. It comes from the Hieronymite monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron, on the slopes of Collserola. The monastery is gone; the name stayed on the mountain and now designates this neighbourhood.[5][1]
la Vall d'Hebron (neighbourhood 41) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Horta-Guinardó: el Baix Guinardó, el Guinardó, Can Baró, el Carmel, la Teixonera, Sant Genís dels Agudells.
Where the name comes from
The neighbourhood takes its name from Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron, a Hieronymite monastery on the southern slope of the Collserola range. Hermits on the mountain already knew it as the Vall d'Hebron, after the valley in Palestine, before the first written mention of the place in 1386. In 1393 Queen Violant of Bar brought eight monks from Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, and the Avignon pope Clement VII authorised the foundation on 18 October as Sant Jeroni de Coll de Cerola; the form “de la vall d'Hebron” came into use in the fifteenth century.[5][1]
On the seaward side of the Ronda de Dalt, beside the old road from Sant Genís to Horta; it borders Sant Genís dels Agudells, la Teixonera, la Clota and Horta.[2]
Before the neighbourhood
The land belonged to the old municipality of Horta, divided into estates such as can Travi Vell, can Travi Nou, can Marcet, can Brasó and can Rossell. The 1953 Comarcal Plan zoned it as urban park and intensive garden city, and the Parc de la Vall d'Hebron housing estate was built on those estates in 1968.[2][1][3]
In 1987 a redevelopment plan was approved that widened the estate with a large sector of sports facilities for the Olympic Games. Former wasteland, vegetable gardens and ravines became a park with major installations, and housing was built for journalists and referees.[2][1][3]
Dates that changed it
- 1393 the Hieronymite monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron is founded on the Collserola slope.[5]
- 1835 militiamen sack and burn the monastery; it is abandoned for good.[5]
- 1953 the Comarcal Plan zones the area as urban park and intensive garden city.[2][1][3]
- 1968 the Parc de la Vall d'Hebron housing estate is built on estates of the old municipality of Horta.[2][1][3]
- 1987 the redevelopment plan is approved that extends the estate with sports facilities for the Olympic Games.[2][1][3]
- 1992 with the Games the replica of the Pavelló de la República is completed and Els mistos is inaugurated, in January.[4][6][1]
Institutions
Biblioteca del Pavelló de la República
A University of Barcelona library inside the Pavelló de la República, holding one of the world's major collections on the Second Republic, the Civil War, Francoism, exile and the Transition; the Centre d'Estudis Històrics Internacionals is also based there.[6][1]
What can still be seen
Can Travi Nou
A farmhouse of eighteenth-century origin on the old road of Sant Cebrià, now Carrer de Jorge Manrique; in the 1920s it became a manor house with an extra floor and two side wings. Listed as a building with elements of interest (category C), it now houses a restaurant.[10]
Els mistos
A pop-art sculpture in steel and fibreglass by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, commissioned in 1987 for the Vall d'Hebron Olympic area and inaugurated in January 1992.[4]
What disappeared
Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron
The monastery, on the Collserola slope within the old parish of Sant Genís dels Agudells, was burned by French troops in 1808 and again in 1835. In 1877 the Arrabassada road was cut through it; a petrol station built on the site in the second half of the twentieth century erased the last traces, and only a few walls survive.[5]
The neighbourhood today
In 2026 Vall d’Hebron had 6,087 residents, 81.7 residents per hectare, a mean census-section income of €25,743 in 2023, an area of 74.5 hectares, and 14.1% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.[11]
Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 14.1%
What is changing
The neighbouring hospital campus is growing towards this side of the Ronda de Dalt. The Edifici d'Atenció Ambulatòria, ten storeys and 46,210 m² above ground, designed by Diego Nakamatsu and Lluís Morán, is to rise across the ring road from the Hospital General; works were due to start in 2024 and finish in 2026. In its August 2026 corporate presentation the campus lists the building (56,000 m²) among its transformation projects without an opening date, and records the new VHIR research building and the heliport as already in operation. Status as of October 2026.[12][13]
Among the 1992 legacy, the Centre Municipal de Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron is the most visible case of wear. About 300 members complained in January 2025 of worn clay courts, broken stands and showers that did not work; the facility is municipal and has been run since 2019 by the Federació Catalana de Tennis and the Unió de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya. By March 2025 €545,000 had been invested, while municipal sources put a full reform at about €2 million. Repairs to courts, gym and climate control were planned for 2025; no later public update was found as of October 2026.[7][8][9]
What the guides leave out
The hospital is next door
The hospital that made the name famous is in Montbau; the neighbourhood has the Olympic grounds and the estate. Even so, the hospital's growth is felt here: the outpatient building is planned across the Ronda de Dalt from the Hospital General.[1][12][13]
A pavilion that is a copy
The original Pavelló de la República, by Josep Lluís Sert and Luis Lacasa, was built for the 1937 Paris Exposition and showed Guernica. The replica, finished in 1992 by the Espinet/Ubach studio and refurbished in 2006, holds a full-size photographic copy of the painting.[6][1]
Read it on foot
Start: Vall d'Hebron (L3/L5) · End: Can Travi Nou[10]
Walking (excluding stop time): 9 min · 690 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 47 min
The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the four marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.
la Vall d'Hebron (neighbourhood 41) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Horta-Guinardó: el Baix Guinardó, el Guinardó, Can Baró, el Carmel, la Teixonera, Sant Genís dels Agudells.
Coordinates
Coordinates
Coordinates
Coordinates
Sources for this page
Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.
- [1] Viquipèdia (2025). La Vall d'Hebron (barri). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [2] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Districte d'Horta-Guinardó (2009). La Vall d'Hebron: una aproximació al barri (esborrany, desembre 2009). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [3] Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (n.d.). el Parc de la Vall d'Hebron. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [4] Viquipèdia (2025). Els mistos. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [5] Viquipèdia (2025). Monestir de Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [6] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Memòria democràtica (n.d.). Pavelló de la República. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [7] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Guia BCN (n.d.). Centre Municipal Tennis Vall Hebron. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [8] Tot Barcelona (2025-03-14). El tenis del Vall d'Hebron, símbol dels Jocs del 92, oblidat. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [9] El Nacional (2025-01-25). Intercambio de reproches entre socios y dirección del Centre Municipal de Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [10] Viquipèdia (2025). Can Travi Nou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [11] Ajuntament de Barcelona — padró (2026). Population and density stats (barri 41). Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [12] Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus (2024). Nou Edifici d'Atenció Ambulatòria Vall d'Hebron. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [13] Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus (2026-08). Presentació corporativa 2026. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [14] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [15] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [16] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 16 sources consulted