Protestantism left an essential influence on the development of the history of the Spanish city of Barcelona with institutions such as the Nou Hospital Evangèlic and the Iglesia Evangélica de Gràcia and figures such as the missionary George Lawrence.

The schools and educational centres founded by Protestant churches and congregations also had a great influence on the territorial expansion of the city before the Civil War.

The Evangelical Church of Belen, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, remembered this part of history with the screening of the documentary 'Protestants: the silenced history', focusing on the relevance that the churches with schools had for the city.

During the event, in addition to a colloquium focused on the promotion of education by the Protestant communities in Barcelona, they also showed some images that illustrate this historical period.
 

“Innovative teaching methods”

The creators of the documentary and organisers of the meeting stressed the importance of those schools, which “were open to the entire population, and not only for Protestant believers”, in the city's literacy.

“They stood out for their innovative teaching methods for the time and, according to several historians, they had the complicity of Republican movements and freethinkers”, they add.

Partly for this reason, many of them had to close due to the governmental order that was imposed on the city after the fall of those movements, towards the end of the Civil War.

Among the schools mentioned were those founded by Methodists in the Ciutat Vella, Clot and Poblenou neighbourhoods.

The Assemblies of Brethren also had centres in Ciutat Vella and Gràcia, and the Baptists founded a school in Gràcia in the 1920s. During Franco's dictatorship, the authorities seized the premises of this centre.

Other schools in Catalonia

The schools founded by Protestants were not only located in Barcelona, there is evidence of this activity in several places throughout Catalonia.

For example, the school that the Methodists opened in Rubí, or those of the Anglicans in Sabadell and Monistrol de Montserrat.

The Baptists also established educational centres in Figueres, Vilabertran and Llançà, the Presbyterians in Reus and the Assemblies of Brethren in Caldes de Montbui, among others.