It is a civic center, but not just any one. The Pere Pruna, at number 130 Ganduxer Street, has been part of the network of civic centers in Barcelona since 1998, after the city council transformed the old chapel of what was the monastery of the Reparative Mothers. The renovation of the space respected some valuable frescoes by the painter who gives its name to the facility, which any visitor can admire.
The history of the current and unique civic center dates back to 1904, when the Juncadella family donated a plot of land to the religious order to build their monastery. The chapel was not built until 1928, the work of architect Enric Sagnier. During the civil war, the chapel was looted. When the nuns returned once the war was over, the chapel was in a state of almost ruin.
It was then that the figure of the chemist and pharmacist Fernando Rubió Tudurí appeared, who financed the reconstruction of the temple and commissioned its decoration to Picasso's disciple Pere Pruna, who conceived a set of biblical scenes basically starring angels on a blue background, which are the frescoes that have survived to this day. Pruna also designed the stained glass windows and furniture. Pruna made the paintings between 1952 and 1954.
In 1970, the Reparadores Mothers sold the land on which their monastery was built. Rubió Tudurí and the neighbors mobilized to save the chapel, which ended up being acquired by the city council. Municipal ownership did not prevent, however, the chapel from remaining closed for years.
The restoration works were not undertaken until 1998. The presence of Pere Pruna's frescoes led to the new space in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district being named after him.
