BAIX PENEDÈS
We can start the excursion in Vendrell to visit the
church of Sant Salvador whose
Modernista altar and baldachin, of Baroque inspiration and supported by magnificent Solomonic columns, are by Jujol.
ALT CAMP
From Baix Penedès we go now to Alt Camp, where one of the jewels of Jujol's legacy awaits us, the
sanctuary of La Mare de Déu de Montserrat, which crowns the Corralet de Montferri hill. Its interior structure is spectacular. It has one hundred and twenty catenary arches that create the shape of a ship pointed as if ready to sail to the mountains of Montserrat, Jujol's source of inspiration.
TARRAGONÈS
We continue the excursion in the Tarragonès district, stopping first in the centre of Vistabella, in La Secuita.
The church of Sagrat Cor is one of Jujol's few newbuild constructions in the Camp de Tarragona, and he achieved it almost without resources. The land was given by a rich donor, the stones came from ploughing the earth and labour was voluntary. And the result? A building with a spire visible throughout the district.
In Els Pallaresos we visit the
Casa Bofarull, which Jujol spent eighteen years restoring. Animals, flowers and colours abound in the decoration of the house in a festival of natural features that reflect its rural setting.
The Jujol Centre in Els Pallaresos is also well worth a visit. It is located in the former Town Council and school building, a building he designed himself between 1917 and 1920.
We finish our excursion in the city of Tarragona, at the
Teatre Metropol, which was commissioned from Jujol as a young man, just as he was embarking on his career as an independent architect after having worked alongside Gaudí. It was a very daring, highly imaginative and well-executed project, inspired by the waves of the sea beating against the hull of a ship.
*An excursion proposed in collaboration with the magazine Descobrir.
