The Ateneu Barcelonès hosts conferences, presentations, press conferences, screenings, concerts, training sessions, meetings and company lunches or dinners, from 10 to about 240 people. The private cultural society rents the rooms of its building, the Palau Savassona, a neoclassical palace of 1796 with later modernista details, at Carrer de la Canuda 6, in the old town of Barcelona. It has a long record of institutional and corporate events.
Seminars and company events
The main room is the Auditori Oriol Bohigas, on the second floor and reached by elevator. It covers 349 m² and seats 239: 179 in the stalls and 60 in the amphitheater, facing a 28 m² stage. It has daylight, a sound system and cinema projection, and suits plenary sessions, presentations and screenings.
For seminars and workshops, the building offers a set of rooms of different sizes. The Sala Pompeu Fabra (129 m²) takes 80 people, the Sala Jacint Verdaguer (68 m²) 70, the Sala Sagarra (81 m²) 66 and the Sala Montserrat Roig (53 m²) 45. The Sala de Juntes takes 20, the Sala de Presidència 18, and the Aula Elionor Serra i Cisa 12. The Sala Carme Karr (54 m², 10 people) is suggested for training, talks and debates, and a group of classrooms around central tables takes up to 12 each.
All rooms have free Wi-Fi, and most have daylight and air conditioning. Additional services include a sound technician, recording or live streaming, equipment rental, piano tuning, simultaneous interpretation, video conferencing and cloakroom racks. Access to the building is controlled. Members of the Ateneu pay reduced rates.
Weddings and receptions
The Ateneu does not present a wedding offer. For receptions, the carriage entrance and the garden host cocktails and standing events.
Rooms and capacities
The largest spaces are the garden, a 465 m² romantic garden of the 19th century on the mezzanine level, listed for 240 people, and the auditorium with 239 seats. The Entrada de Carruatges, a 143 m² hall behind an 18th-century portal, takes 100 seated or 150 standing and suits informal and standing formats. The library is reserved for members. Garden events are subject to request, and weekend use carries an extra staffing charge.
Catering
The building has its own café-restaurant, and catering is offered for events, from coffee breaks to a glass of cava. Surplus food can be donated to the Santa Anna parish as a solidarity option.
History and setting
The Ateneu traces its roots to 1836 and moved into the Palau Savassona in 1906. The garden was remodeled by the architect Josep Maria Jujol and keeps tall palm trees, geometric flower beds and a small pond with a fountain and water lilies. Today the society runs a library and historic archive, a writing school, courses, literary prizes and a busy program of talks and debates.
Getting there
Plaça de Catalunya is a few steps away: metro lines L1 and L3, FGC lines S1, S2, L6 and L7, and Rodalies lines R1, R3 and R4 all stop there. Buses 59, V13 and 67 stop nearby, and the Saba car park at Plaça de Catalunya is the closest parking. Barcelona-El Prat airport is reachable by train from the city center.
