The history of Sant Feliu de Guíxols can be summarised based on this Benedictine monastery, which combines architectural styles from the 5th to the 18th century. The first monastery built here on top of former Roman structures dates back to the 10th century and retains the Porta Ferrada, which was integrated as a portico entrance. Later, other elements and constructions were incorporated, including the Gothic church and the new convent from the 18th century.
Today you can visit part of the building along with the Torre del Fum" (Smoke Tower) and the "Torre del Corn" (The Horn tower), located on each side of the church. In its day, these acted as defense towers. From the first of them, smoke signals were emitted using wet straw. From the second, a shell horn was sounded in times of danger.
The municipality of Sant Feliu de Guixols was established and grew up around the monastic complex. For this reason, this significant building was chosen to house the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, the town’s history museum along with the permanent exhibition on health and the rural doctor.
Today, the history of the monastery is still being written. And in the rooms of the old Palau de l’Abat (Abbot's Palace) you will now find the Espai Carmen Thyssen dedicated to temporary exhibitions.
Is it possible to feel like a bourgeois of the early 20th century by visiting a Romanesque monastery? Sant Benet de Bages shows how heritage adapts to new uses over time. In this case, a medieval monastery that became the summer residence of Ramon Casas’s family and finally the tourist and cultural centre that it is today.
The first church (pre-Romanesque) was consecrated in 972 with a community of twelve monks. However, it was not until the 12th century that the abbey would experience its period of splendor, with the construction of a new church and the cloister. The latter of these is the true Romanesque star of the group. Between the pillars there are semi-circular arches that rest on double columns with sculpted capitals, all of them original.
As a result of the confiscation by Mendizábal, the monastery was abandoned. It was in the year 1907, that Elisa Carbó i Ferrer, mother of the painter Ramon Casas, bought the land of Sant Benet and adapted the quarters of the monastic community to create a residence. The renovation was designed by another illustrious name: Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Particularly outstanding is the modernista (Art Nouveau) terrace, which occupies part of the old cells of the monks.
Today, through the use of new technologies, the visitor can delve into the building’s monastic history and modernista past. Moreover, in 2007 in the surroundings of the monastery, a complex known as Món Sant Benet was opened, which in addition to disseminating heritage, also focuses on gastronomy and the landscape.
The Pau Casals Museum is one of the most significant testimonies of the legacy of Pau Casals, one of the most universal Catalan musicians, who revolutionised the world through innovation in playing the cello.
The building it occupies is the Vil·la Casals, which the musician had built in 1910, on the seafront in Sant Salvador, El Vendrell. Originally designed as a summer house, it was renovated in the noucentista-style, along with the Music Room, the garden and the viewpoint. Casals lived there until 1939, when he had to go into exile and never returned.
In 1972, the musician and his wife, Marta Montañez, created the Fundació Pau Casals to conserve the heritage contained in their house in Sant Salvador. After his death, La Sala del Sentiment, La Sala de Concerts and La Sala del Vigatà were opened to the public and in 1976 the house was opened as a museum.
In the current museum, opened in 2001, the visitor can admire various sculptures, paintings, musical instruments, photographs, autographs, pieces of furniture and other personal belongings of the musician, in addition to participating in various activities aimed at the promotion and dissemination of music.
In the middle of Montjuïc, in Barcelona, under the shade of the trees, the white volumes of the Fundació Joan Miró do not go unnoticed. In its interior, it holds more than 14,000 pieces by the surrealist painter, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics and tapestries. One of the most important aspects of the Fundació is that it preserves nearly all Joan Miró’s preparatory sketches, with more than 8,000 drawings, invaluable material for understanding the work of the artist.
The collection was originally created with a donation from Joan Miró himself and has since grown with donations from family, friends and collectors.
Through the Foundation’s collection, you can take a journey through the artistic life of Miró. Starting with his early paintings with their clear influence of Impressionism, Fauvism and French Cubism (Chapel of Sant Joan d'Horta and Portrait of a Young Girl). Progressing on to his fully surrealist phase (The Bottle of Wine) and his well-known collages (Homage to Prats). And ending with his works on the Civil War (Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement) and his paintings of the constellations.
But the museum is not only notable for the work it houses but also for its architectural and museological concepts. Miró wanted to open a foundation that would look to the future, that would not become a temple of collectors' objects but rather a place of discovery and debate. And with this objective, he asked the architect Josep Lluís Sert to construct a building with its own personality. The result is a piece of architecture that serves as the perfect showcase for the work of the artist.
The Pyrenees was the last area inhabited by dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. This explains why the Cretaceous site of Coll de Nargó is regarded by the scientific community as one of the most important in the world. Providing an excellent source of information on the time when the last great dinosaurs became extinct and a new era dominated by mammals began.
The site consists of an area open to the public which is called the "Mirador del Creataci", (Cretaceous Observation Centre), from where you can see dinosaur footprints, fossilised plant and animal remains, and dinosaurs nests and eggs. To spread the importance of the site, the Dinosfera, museum was established, providing interactive interpretation based on new technologies.
The permanent exhibition focuses particularly on explaining the assumed reproduction process of these giants of nature. And one of the most spectacular pieces found at Coll de Nargó and on display in the Museum, is the largest dinosaur nest in Europe. In fact, one of the main creatures responsible for the clutches of eggs that have been found in the area is the titanosaurus. For this reason, a reproduction of this sauropod can be found at the start of the exhibition.
When the paleontologist Miquel Crusafont died, his children gave their father’s fossil collection to the Provincial Institute of Palaeontology, with the condition that it would not leave Sabadell.
This Institute later became the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (Catalan Institute of Palaeontology Miquel Crusafont) and today it is a reference centre for the research, conservation and promotion of palaeontology in Catalonia (the science that studies living organisms of the past through fossils). Since its creation, the collection has increased to 200,000 registered fossils, obtained from different sites, making it one of the most important in Europe.
Among the best-known finds held in the ICP are Jordi and Montse (hispanopithecus laietanus) and Pau (pierolapithecus catalaunicus). They are all primates dating back more than 12 million years and have enabled us to explain more clearly the period between hominids and their primate ancestors.
Since 2010, the museum has become the main outreach area of the ICP. Through interactive tours, the visitor learns about the palaeontology research process, discovers what a laboratory for the restoration of fossils is like, sees fossils in 3D and the recreation of landscapes 66 million years old, when the Pyrenees of the present day was an area inhabited by dinosaurs.
