The building that houses the CIDOB Foundation was originally the Sant Guillem d’Aquitània school, founded by the Augustinians in 1587, which formed part of the Casa de la Misericordia complex (1583) and later became a municipal elementary school. During the Napoleonic invasion, it was the clandestine headquarters of the citizens’ movement against the French occupation.

It is a building whose outstanding elements are its large, arched windows. Its arched front door and porthole above it belong to the facade of the former church.

In more modern times, the Cultural Institute and People’s Library for Women were founded in this building in 1910, and, later, in 1940, it became the main office of the Theatre Institute and of the Adrià Gual Chair. In 1988, it became the headquarters of the CIDOB Foundation.

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A 16th century building destined to be the headquarters of the institution founded in 1370 by Guillem dez Pou to take in the orphaned children of the diocese. It is a utilitarian building, with notable sobriety and simple lines; it has a portal flanked by pillars that support an inscription with the year 1578 on it.

The orphaned children’s home has an adjacent chapel, which is currently used for CIDOB offices, commissioned by Claudi Cosal in 1680 and remodelled in 1785. In this building, we find an upper level of the chapel with a single, windowed vault and rectangular, interconnected side chapels corresponding with convent tradition. Its ornaments and interior sculptures disappeared in 1936.

Among the later uses of the building, it was a school run by the St. Vincent de Paul Daughters of Charity (1848) and a convent of the Carmelites of Charity (1875).

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