Schools

When the ‘clos de la Torre’ in Badalona was developed in 1954, an exceptional discovery was found: the remains of the baths of the Roman town of Baetulo in an excellent state of conservation. In order to preserve the remains, the Museum of Badalona was built over the top of them. It was opened in 1966.

Since its refurbishment in 2010, going down to the basement of the Museum of Badalona gives access to a 3,400 m2 site with the remains of the Roman city. In addition to the baths, the remains of the cardo maximus and the decumanus maximus (with the corresponding drains), various shops (tabernae) and three housing complexes (insulae) can be seen. This is one of the most important and well preserved archaeological sites from the Roman era in Catalonia.

The permanent exhibition of the Museum tells the story of the first settlements witnessed in Badalona - prehistoric, iron age and Iberian - but it is the exhibits relating to Baetulo which stand out, among which are the hinge-posts of the city gate, the Vas de les Naus (Ship Vase) and the portrait of Agrippina.

The collection features an epigraphic document of great value, the Tabula Hospitalis, a bronze tablet that records a hospitality agreement from 98 AD between the baetulonenses and Quintus Licinius Silvanus Granianus, governor of the city. Another jewel of the exhibition is the Venus of Badalona, one of the most important representations of the female form in Catalonia. These pieces were returned to Badalona in 1980, having been looted during the Civil War.

Apart from the main building, the Museum has various extension sites: the Roman archaeological sites of the Casa dels Dofins and the Garden of Quintus Licinius, the Turó d'en Boscà (a walled Iberian settlement), and the Can Miravitges estate (an 18th century agricultural manor house).

In 1882, when the Romanesque castle of Montcada in the old town of Vic was demolished, the remains of a Roman temple appeared among the ruins. This was the ancient Roman temple of Ausa which had been preserved in excellent condition. The building dates from the 2nd century, after the Roman conquest of Hispania. The reconstruction lasted for 77 years (1883-1959), but it is currently one of only two Roman temples throughout Spain to have been preserved practically complete.

The temple, built on a podium, consists of a cella (small chamber) and an atrium with 8 columns. Two of the walls of the cella were found almost intact. A capital, a section of the shaft of the column and the original fragments of the pediment were found amongst the rubble which allowed the exterior of the monument to be reconstructed.

The castle which occupied the temple area was built in 897 by Guifré el Pilós (Wilfred the Hairy) and, from the 11th century, was the property and residence of the Montcada family who reused the four walls of the temple to construct the castle’s central courtyard. Afterwards, the building was used as a residence of the veguer (feudal administrator), headquarters of the Royal Curia, the city’s granary and, finally, a prison and quarry. By the 19th century, it had lost its fortified appearance completely and had been converted into a rather forbidding mansion. Still preserved today are part of the vaults and walls of the north and west sections of the castle.

The roar of the water, the smells, the noise of carts and workers were, from the end of the 18th century, a constant presence on the banks of the Rec d’Igualada (irrigation channel). And it is here that new tanneries began to be built. The Leather Museum of Igualada and the County of Anoia recalls this industrial past of the city, linked to leather and also to the manufacture of wool. Conceived in 1954, it is one of the first monographic leather museums in Europe. It also forms part of the Territorial system of the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC).

The two buildings that make up the Museum, the industrial evolution of the Rec area is summarised. The main location is in the Cal Boyer cotton factory, an example of strong industrial growth at the end of the 19th century. The other, Cal Granotes, a pre-industrial building (18th century) where traditional vegetable tanning of the leather, particularly of ox and cow, was carried out. It is currently the only tannery museum in Catalonia.

The permanent exhibition is divided into different areas. Particularly notable is the room “L’Home i l’Aigua” (Man and Water) which addresses topics such the role water plays in health, the economic uses of water and the elevation of the water and its transport. It is an innovative museum space where, in the central section, the visitor will find a water channel where they can experiment with various hydraulic devices.

In the room "Dels clots als bombos" (From the pits to the drums) the historical development of the tannery trade is explained: from how the leather was tanned in 1890 (making the connection to Cal Granotes) to the tanning barrels and other machinery that is now  powered by electricity.

At Plaça Gran in Granollers, on a stone platform, fifteen columns rise up, covered by a four-sided roof with the edges covered with green glazed tiles. This Porxada or Portico, the most emblematic monument of Granollers, was built between 1586 and 1587 as a corn exchange. Today it has become the nerve centre of the city.

The initial project has been attributed to the master builder, Bartomeu Brufalt, and cost 520 Barcelonan pounds, according to the contract with the university of Granollers. Initially it was used during the agricultural market to protect the wheat that was sold here. In 1872, it was enclosed with grilles and stalls were built inside. It served its function as a general market until 1938, when a bombardment by the Francoist air force left the Porxada in ruins. After the war, in 1939, it was rebuilt without grilles or the stalls, leaving the columns open as they would have been when it was designed.

On the south-western corner of the Porxada, opposite the Granollers Town Hall, we find the Pedra de l’Encant (Stone of the Auction), a block of red sandstone which was undoubtedly used for conducting public sales (encants or auctions) of agriculture products and livestock. Legend says that this stone was carried to the Porxada by a flood and that there will be another flood that will carry it away.

The town of Cercs, in Berguedà, forms part of the most important mining centre in Catalonia, particularly from the modern mining of brown lignite coal in the late 19th century. To ensure stable labour in such an isolated place, a colony was built with housing and basic services for the miners, following the example of the textile colonies in the region.

Since 1999, the colony of Sant Corneli has been home to Cercs Mines Museum, which explains what the mining activity in the area was like over many years, from a geological, landscape, social and economic point of view. The Museum belongs to the Territorial system of the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC).

The main building of the Museum is the old school of the colony, which was converted in 1931 to the "Hogar del Minero" (Home of the Miner) dedicated to services for workers (café, library, barbershop, cinema, games room, etc.). Here you can see the permanent exhibition that explains what coal mining and the mining infrastructure was like. A significant part is devoted to daily life in the colony and to the working conditions of the miners. Two audiovisual displays describe their most emblematic protests and you can also visit a miner’s house.

In 2012, "The spectacle of the mine: emotions and sensations" was included as part of the exhibition which delves into the world of mining through a immersive museum experience using new technologies.

Finally, a guided tour of the interior of the mine transports the visitor to other periods and you can travel along the first 450 metres of a 7 km long gallery in a wagon.

In Catalonia, the Gothic lasted longer than in other neighbouring regions. Therefore, examples of Renaissance architecture are rather scarce. One of the first buildings in this style, preserved in Catalonia, is the Town Hall of Arnes (Terra Alta). The proof is on the frieze of the six main windows where you can read, going consecutively one to the other, an inscription with the construction date of "1584" and the name of Joan Vilabona of Queretes.

The building, entirely free-standing, has an entrance portico. The first floor is surrounded by six windows with lintels and engaged, ionic half-columns, probably the place where the Renaissance influence can best be seen. Finally, completing the complex is the second floor with an arcaded gallery, now blocked in. Despite its austerity, some details are particularly notable such as the gargoyles or the coat of arms on a keystone of the central door.

The inside had been modified, but now nothing remains of the original sixteenth century interior. This was lost in 1835 during the Carlist Wars, when the building was set on fire.

From history and ethnography to geography and the economy, also taking in the ecology. The Museu de les Terres de l'Ebre (Museum of the Lands of the Ebro in Amposta) gives a cross-sectional view of the Ebro delta region. Visitors can learn about the Ilercavones, learn different ways of fishing, even see a ‘llagut’ up close, the most characteristic river boat.

It was created in 2011, as an expansion and updating of the previous Museu Comarcal del Montsià (Montsià County Museum). It occupies the old modernista building of the Miquel Granell state school, which has been converted to meet the needs of a modern and thought-provoking museum project. The museum conserves and manages one of the most important collections of nature, archaeology and ethnology in the Terres de l'Ebre region made up of more than 35,000 objects, among which the Falcata stands out, an Iberian sword that forms part of the set of urns and artefacts from the Iberian necropolis of Mianes (Santa Barbara).

The permanent exhibition "The lands of the Ebro: from prehistory to the middle ages" takes a tour through the history of the banks of the lower Ebro, starting from the archaeological remains found in the area. The second room, "Ebro: the water road" focuses on the influence of the most important river on the Iberian Peninsula on history and the collective identity, and reflects on what the future of the territory will be like.

On the museum’s website, various archaeological items can be viewed in 3D.

The museum will head up the network "Ebro nature & culture" which brings together museums, interpretation centres, archaeological sites and monuments in the different municipalities of the Ebro.

The dolmen of Cova d'en Daina (Daina’s Cave) in Romanya de la Selva, is one of the most complete and best preserved megaliths in Catalonia. It is also noted for being one of the most representative funeral monuments of its type, known as a "Catalan gallery" or "wide corridor" grave.

Dating from between 2700 - 2200 BCE, in the Neolithic period, it consists of a covered gallery, 7 metres in length, in a U-shape, built with granite slabs. Originally, it would have incorporated a circular tumulus and cromlech (a structure formed by stones or menhirs affixed in the ground in a circular or elliptical shape).

These types of "Catalan gallery" tombs are typical of the late Neolithic period and are the result of the evolution of the "corridor graves". They are formed by a geometric chamber where the human remains and grave goods were deposited and a corridor almost the same width as the chamber.

The Cova d'en Daina was excavated for the first time in the nineteenth century and a large number of very fragmented bones and the teeth of many adults and children were found, the result of successive collective burials. In addition, flint tools, pottery fragments and some ornaments (necklaces and small pieces of slate and gold) were discovered.

You can discover the history of Tortosa in one of the most significant buildings of the city. This is the old abattoir, a modernista work by the architect Pau Monguió, built on land reclaimed from the River Ebro. In 2012, on the centenary of the Museum of Tortosa it was moved and advantage was taken of the pavilions to display a completely renovated Museum project.

The museum has a collection of more than 4,000 pieces among which include prehistoric flint tools, Roman funerary stones, Andalusian pottery, Gothic capitals, signs of flooding, the tools of one of the last potters of Tortosa, and paintings and sculpture by artists from Tortosa, among others.

The tour of the permanent exhibition provides information on the history of Tortosa and its surrounding regions, from the prehistoric times to the present day. Remains from Ilercavonia, Dertosa or Turtuxa are displayed. You can see the most representative pieces from each historical period from the museum’s own collection and from other museums that have made loans to the collection, such as the Prado Museum, the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia), the National Archaeolgical Museum of Tarragona and the Museu de les Terres de l’Ebre. The contemporary work of the artist Leonardo Escoda interacts obliquely with the space and the content of the museum.

The idea of creating a museum in Valls goes back to 1909. From that time onwards, it has received donations and loans from patrons such that it now holds a collection of over a thousand works of Catalan art from the last 120 years, considered one of the best in Catalonia.

Located in the Casa de Cultura since 1970, its premises were completely refurbished in 1993. Taking a chronological journey through the collection, there are examples of Realism (F. Galofré Oller, Josep Marqués, Baldomer Galofré) and Modernism and Impressionism (Isidre Nonell, Eliseu Meifrén, Enric Galwey, Joan Llimona, Francesc Vayreda) and Noucentisme (Joaquim Sunyer, Enric Casanovas). One of the jewels of the museum is the collection of paintings, sculptures and jewellery by Manolo Hugué, linked to the early avant-garde.

The museum also has a good representation of the post-war artists (Josep M. Mallol Suazo, Josep Amat, Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Brossa, Apel·les Fenosa, Modest Cuixart).

Notable is its photography collection, thanks to the loan made in 1998 by the photographer Francesc Català-Roca. It is completed with works by Pere Català Pic, Pere Català Roca, Colita, Xavier Miserachs, Leopoldo Pomés and Oriol Maspons.

In addition to the art collection, the Museum of Valls also holds an important archaeological collection focused on the Iberian world, available to researchers, and an ethnographic collection of the castellera (human towers) which will become part of the future Museu Casteller de Catalunya (Human Tower Museum of Catalonia).