Schools

El convent de Sant Bartomeu de Bellpuig ofereix un gran exemple de la transició del gòtic tardà al renaixement . Al mateix temps, ofereix una visió de com l'individu buscava la transcendència del seu poder i honor més enllà de la mort.

Ramon Folc de Cardona-Anglesola, baró de Bellpuig i virrei a Nàpols i Sicília, volia un escenari solemne per al seu mausoleu . Per això, el 1507, va patrocinar la construcció d’un convent franciscà a la part superior de l’antiga capella de Sant Bartomeu. D’aquí que, en la decoració, hi ha un notable contrast entre l’austeritat franciscana i la noble esplendor que aporta el mecenatge de la família.

L’edifici, de forma rectangular, s’organitza al voltant de dos claustres. Al més petit dels dos hi ha un element amb un gran valor artístic: la galeria del primer pis, formada per deu columnes en espiral. Cal destacar l'escala de cargol del campanar, l'escala principal, la sala capitular i el mirador del Duc (mirada del duc).

Tot i així, l’element més monumental va ser el mausoleu del baró de Bellpuig , inicialment allotjat dins de l’Església però que ara es pot veure a l’església parroquial. Va ser creat el 1524 a partir de marbre de carrara per l'escultor napolità Giovanni Merliano da Nola. Té l'estructura d'un arc triomfal i va acompanyat de motius al·legòrics en referència a la personalitat del difunt. Per la seva qualitat, és una de les millors obres renaixentistes de Catalunya. 

In 887 Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy) founded the monastery of Sant Joan de Ripoll which was later known as Sant Joan de les Abadesses. And, for nearly 60 years between the 9th and 10th centuries, it was the only female monastery in Catalonia.

The first abbess was the daughter of Wilfred the Hairy, Emma of Barcelona. This community of Benedictine nuns remained until 1017 when the nuns, accused of leading a life which was hardly exemplary, were expelled. Subsequently, the monastery was occupied by a male community of Augustinian canons until the 16th century and then went on to be ruled by the archpriest until the 19th century.

The monastic enclosure that we see today has undergone modifications over time. The original Romanesque church was renovated in the 12th century in the monumental architectural style of the models in South-West France and it was partly reconstructed after the 1428 earthquake. Inside, one cannot miss the Santíssim Misteri or Holy Mystery, the only preserved Romanesque sculpture in Catalonia that remains in situ.

Attached to the Church is the Gothic cloister (15th century) and the Chapel of Dolors (18th century), with the baroque cupola by the sculptor Jacint Morató. Also preserved is the old Abbey Palace, 14th-15th century, which today houses the Interpretation Centre of the Myth of Count Arnau as this legendary character was connected to the first community of nuns at the Abbey.

The monastery museum, open since 1975 in the old rectory, displays a collection of paintings, sculptures, textiles and metalwork from the 8th century until the 20th century, most of which was designed for liturgical worship.

A 461 metres d'alçada, a la part alta de la serra de la Guàrdia, és fàcil imaginar l'impressionant Castell de Claramunt vigilant i protegit per la conca d' Adena .

Jo, tot i que necessito nombroses destruccions i reconstruccions, és fortalesa del segle X és un dels exemples principals de la xarxa de castells fronterers, que van marcar la línia entre el Comtat de Barcelona i Al-Andalus.

Encomanat dels seus inicis a la casa de Claramunt, el castell esdevenir el centre administratiu dels dominis feus de Cardona-Medinaceli entre els segles XIV i XIX. Tanmateix, no hi ha aletes serioses al segle XX que recupera la seva glòria amb la compra i restauració per part dels seus propis propietaris, la família Miquel .

Té l’estructura típica de castells del segle XII, amb dos recintes que ocupen més de 5.000 m2: el sobirà o recinte superior, amb la zona residencial, la Sala Gòtica i quatre torres, entre les que destaca la torre de conservació; l’altre, el recinte jussà o inferior, assigna els serveis del castell i l’actualització és un gran pati envoltat de muralles.

També es conserven les restes de l’ església romànica de Santa Maria , la primera parròquia de la Pobla de Claramunt.

Between 75,000 and 40,000 years ago, the cliff of Capelló was a shelter for Neanderthals, an extinct species of hominid who were organised into small communities of hunter-gatherers. Thousands of years later, Abric Romaní revealed to archaeologists what life was like for a species who shared common evolutionary ancestry with modern man.

In terms of the number and the importance of the findings, Abric Romaní has become one of the principal Middle Palaeolithic sites on the Iberian Peninsula. Thanks to these discoveries, it is possible to reconstruct the modus vivendi of these communities and their interaction with the natural environment in which they lived.

In addition, Abric Romaní, which is still in the process of excavation, has, for the first time allowed us to determine (for Neanderthal groups) the occupation strategies, the structure of their dwellings, subsistence strategies, the technologies of fire and tools, etc. Notable among the remains recovered are scores of wooden objects (the largest collection in the world with such an ancient chronology), close to 200 fireplaces and numerous tools made of stone and bone that demonstrate some very technically advanced production systems.

Abric Romaní forms part of the NEAN-Capellades Prehistoric Park, which includes some 20 archaeological sites in total, and acts as a centre for the dissemination of prehistory and the promotion of cultural tourism.

Contemporary art in Barcelona is MACBA. The Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona stands at the heart of the Catalan capital in a Richard Meier building that is itself a work of art. It is located in touching distance of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), an reference point for lovers of 20th and 21st century art and culture.

MACBA, which was started in 1995, has established itself internationally as a model in contemporary art. Its collection of 5,500 works, allows a journey to be traced through the main artistic references of today. Beginning with materic abstraction from the 1950s, incorporating works of the European pop art and of the avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s. There are also works around the photographic figurative representation and minimalist sculpture.

Among the most important pieces you can see: Dins el roig, by Albert Ràfols-Casamada; Between the Frames: The Forum, by Antoni Muntadas; La saison des pluies II, by Miquel Barceló; Rinzen, by Antoni Tàpies; Beschwingte Bindungen, by Paul Klee; Thames Circles, by Richard Long, and Atomic Kiss, by Joan Rabascall, among others.

The MHC is a museum designed to stimulate interest in the evolution of Catalan culture. In the Palau de Mar, one of the few conserved buildings of the old port of Barcelona, visitors follow a thought-provoking story that is divided into eight stages, starting in prehistoric times and finishing in the present day to, and taken from a social, economic, political and cultural point of view.

During the tour, you will find objects and documents, historical recreations and audiovisual and interactive scenes, which in an entertaining way, illustrate the history of this nation.

The visitor even gets the opportunity to climb onto the horse of a Lord in the war of the Middles Ages and hide in a trench of the Civil War.

The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) is organised around its 6 regional centres (Barcelona, CASC, Empúries, Girona, Olèrdola and Ullastret). Of them all, Barcelona is the centre that offers a more cross-cutting view because it explains the social, technological, economic, and religious developments from early man up to the middle ages in Catalonia and the Mediterranean.

Located in the former Pavelló d'Arts Gràfiques, (Graphic Arts Pavilion), built for the 1929 Universal Exposition of Barcelona, the MAC Barcelona renovated 11 rooms between 2010 and 2013. The permanent exhibition, consisting of more than one million original pieces, takes the visitor on a journey through pre-history, protohistory, the Greek and Phoenician colonisation and the establishment of the Roman Empire.

To accompany the visitor, there are learning resources, pictures, scenery and also audiovisual pieces such as the funeral rituals of prehistoric times compared with those of today.

One of the most emblematic pieces of the museum is the statue of the Roman God Aesculapius, now a reproduction because the original was moved to the Empúries centre in 2008. Other notable exhibits include the Paleolithic materials, the 53,200 year-old Neanderthal jaw from Sitges, the Iberian treasure of Tivissa, the Phoenician votive figures, Greek ceramics and the Roman statue found in the street Carrer Paradís, and considered to be the highest quality sculpture recovered from ancient Barcino, the Roman name for Barcelona.

Integrated into the Regional Network of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya, the Ecomuseu-Farinera at Castelló d'Empúries has, from 2004, explained the story of the men and women of the region dedicated to the cultivation of the wheat grain and the various uses of the flour.

The building of la Farinera offers a tour of the Catalan industrial flour heritage. The machines, tools and structures exhibited are testimony of an activity that has developed since medieval times: first in the old flour mill, and from the end of the 19th century to 2001, at the modern flour mill factory.

The visit to the Ecomuseum is completed with a route that follows, up to the Pont de la Mercè, part of the five kilometres of the Rec del Molí (mill irrigation channel). This hydraulic infrastructure drove water from the weir at Vilanova de la Muga to the flour mill, skirting around and supplying the orchards and fields. Upon arrival at the flour mill, the water turned a Francis turbine from 1905, which was responsible for generating the energy necessary for the operation of the factory.

Empúries is the only archaeological site in the Iberian Peninsula where the remains of a Greek city Empòrion coexist with those from the Roman city, Emporiae. It is also the gateway to the classical culture: Ten centuries of history that transformed, forever, the ancient Iberian peoples that inhabited it.

The first settlement of the Greeks was in the 6th century BCE on a small island off the coast of the Gulf of Roses (Palaia Polis, ancient city), and then moved to the mainland to establish what was known as the Neàpolis, the new city. In 218 BCE, the port of Empúries was used as an entry point to the peninsula for the Roman troops in their fight against the Carthaginian army. Between the 6th century BCE and the 5th century AD, Empúries has been a port, a commercial enclave, a western colony of Greece, the first Roman encampment on the peninsula, a prosperous Roman city...

The current Greek ruins belong to the city from the Hellenistic period. During the visit there we would find the precincts Asclepius and Serapis, the small industry which produced canned fish and sauces, the Agorá or public square and the remains of the floor of a banqueting room with an inscription in Greek.

Notable from the Roman period is the Domus 1 with the mosaics that decorated the ground, the Insula 30 (area occupied by the city’s public baths), the Forum, the remains of the Basilica and the Curia and the tabernae or shops.

Half way along the route you can visit the Museum of the Empúries excavations which houses the exceptional original sculpture of Asclepius found at the site.

It is therefore a privileged space for understanding the evolution of the Greek and Roman urban development and is a turning point in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. Currently it is one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archaeological Museum of Catalonia).

Olèrdola has known the presence of man from the Bronze Age until well into the 20th century. This fact shows the strategic importance of a settlement located on the hill of Sant Miquel, which overlooks the Penedès plain. Olèrdola is currently one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Catalonia Archaeology Museum) and is part of the Iberian Route.

Its position made Olèrdola an ideal place in times of war but barely habitable during periods of peace. For this reason, the site also has known long periods of abandonment.

The population have left their mark. There is an Iberianoppidum, a fortified and walled village. There is also an impressive Roman fortification to control the territory and, in particular, the access road to Tarraco (the old name for Tarragona). Finally, within the group is a medieval town, with Romanesque and Pre-Romanesque churches (Sant Miquel and Santa Maria), the castle and anthropomorphic tombs dug out of the rock.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the decline of Olèrdola and the displacement of the population in the plain began.

Currently preserved are the remains of the Castle, the Church of Sant Miquel, a Romanesque building, and the Necropolis of Sant Miquel, an excellent display of the characteristic burials from the High Middle Ages.