The participation of the main artists, musicians and writers of the 19th century in the activities that the artist Santiago Rusiñol organised at his home-studio in Sitges from 1893 has been turned into a veritable temple of Modernisme.
It was so named Cau (hideout), because they wanted it to be a haven for lovers of poetry, and Ferrat (Iron), because he had a collection of wrought iron that he had collected on his travels around Catalonia. The building is now the Cau Ferrat Museum, one of the main museums of the region of Garraf.
It brings together the collections of ancient and modern art put together by the Catalan artist and writer. Painting, drawing, sculpture, wrought iron, ceramics, glass and furniture form a unique artistic collection, which includes some of the sculptural work of Rusiñol, as well as artists such as Casas, Picasso, El Greco, R. Pichot, Mas i Fondevila, Zuloaga, Regoyos i Degouwe de Nucques, Enric Clarasó, Manolo Hugué and Pau Gargallo, among others.
The Cau Ferrat Museum building was refurbished between 2010 and 2014 in order to strengthen the structure and restore the original historic elements.
The Archive of the Crown of Aragon (ACA) is the historical archive which contains the documents from the institutions of the ancient Crown of Aragon, as well from other historical Spanish collections. The former Royal Archive of Barcelona brings together more than seven centuries of history between its walls.
King Jaume II of Aragon created the Royal Archive of Barcelona in 1318 with the aim of unifying the collection from all the Crown territories. At the beginning, it was mainly to safeguard the written records relating to the Royal Heritage, as well as government and legal documents. During the Bourbon monarchy the building was modernised (1738), a new internal regulations were approved (1754) and with the change of name began the task of incorporating the files of institutions of the Ancient Regime into the collection of the Crown of Aragon.
Until 1993, it was housed in the Palau del Lloctinent, a building constructed between 1549 and 1557 as an extension of the Palau Reial Major in Barcelona. Subsequently, the majority of documents, as well as the task of research, conservation and custody, were moved to the current location on Carrer Almogàvers. The historical headquarters is maintained for the dissemination, through courses and exhibitions, and for ceremonial events.
From a manuscript of the tenth century, to the Proceedings of the Governing Council of the Republican Government, and including archives and personal collections of illustrious personages of the Catalan society in the 19th and 20th centuries such as Francesc Macià, Prat de la Riba, Eugeni D'Ors and Carles Riba. Since 1980, the National Archive of Catalonia (Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya, ANC) has been the institution in charge of gathering, preserving and disseminating the documentary heritage of the country.
As the general archive of the government, the ANC receives, restores and manages the documentation generated by the political and administrative actions of the Generalitat de Catalunya. As a national historical archive, it is dedicated to the restoration of documentation which is key to the knowledge of our past.
In addition to the archives from the administration, associations and foundations, and from the Church, particularly notable among its more than 900 holdings and documentary collections are the personal holdings and the manuscript, scroll and printed collections.
The history of the national archives of Catalonia began in 1936, during the Spanish Republic, and was restarted with the end of Franco's dictatorship. The current headquarters in Sant Cugat is a modern building featuring the latest technologies to ensure the best preservation of documents.
The old Mill in Vila de Capellades, one of the most important both in Catalonia and Spain, is now the Paper Mill Museum. Its mission is twofold: on the one hand, to promote the industrial and historical heritage of papermaking from the 13th century until the beginning of the 20th century; and on the other hand, to give continuity to the artisan activity of handmade paper.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, its easily accessible environment and an abundance of water made Capellades the capital of paper, with illustrious names like Soteras, Romeu, Guarro, Serra and Romaní. The high quality of its products was appreciated by customers in Spain as well in the overseas colonies.
Tools, machinery, labels, wooden stamps and the different varieties of paper exhibited in the museum are the witnesses to this industrial task. To these aims must be added conservation and new uses of the mill buildings, and the numerous documents about the technology and the art of the papermaking.
Integrated in the network of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya, during the last few years the Paper Mill Museum has also become a meeting point for professionals to explore the possibilities of paper as an artistic material.
Teamwork, effort and a spirit of self-improvement. These are the values that embody "Els castells" (human towers), a cultural practice with more than 200 years of history and declared in 2010 as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
The oldest references to these human towers date back to the eighteenth century b>: the towers consisting of two or three people were the culmination of the "Ball de Valencians" (Valencians' Dance) unique to the festivals in the province of Tarragona. When these towers became independent from the rest of the festivities, "els castells" developed into an exhibition with its own character.
Its popularity has fluctuated over the years. After becoming established in the nineteenth century, with "castells" of up to nine levels, the practice declined in the early twentieth century, and resurfaced during the 1960s.
The golden era of "els castells" began in the 1990s and continues today. The creation of new groups with a young and multicultural profile, achieving spectacular new feats, and television broadcasting of "castells" exhibitions have contributed to its resurgence.
Today there are more than 100 groups in the Països Catalans (Catalan territory), with 12,000 participants and 12,000 "castells"being built every year.
During Corpus Christi, the capital of Berguedà transforms itself with the celebration of "Patum", a singular festival in Catalonia that has continued practically without interruption since the fifteenth century.
The origin of this tradition, which in 2005 was recognized by UNESCO as a masterpiece of Intangible World Heritage dates back to the "entreméses", paratheatrical performances that were part of the medieval processions of Corpus Christi.
The main days of the celebration are Thursday and Sunday. At noon, Patum is more reserved and solemn, while at night it is festive and participatory. The main protagonists and events of the festival are the drums, the Turks and Little Knights, the Maces, the Mules, the Eagle, the Old Dwarves, the Giants, the New Dwarves, the "Plens" (fire devils) and the "Tirabol" (final dance).
The climax of the Patum is the "Plens", fire devils which transform Berga's main square into a fiery hell. The main characters of the festival dance to the rhythm of drum music and the music of Joaquim Serra composed in the late nineteenth century.
Bread, wine and oil. The essence of the Mediterranean diet, shared by Iberians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Barbarians and Arabs, and based on these three ingredients. A combination of simple food--varied and balanced-- that throughout the centuries, without losing its own identity, has been enriched by the contributions and the mixing of ancient cultures.
As such, from theMiddle and Far East came cereals, legumes and many fruits and vegetables such as carrots, onions and apples. From Europe, cabbage and asparagus. From the Far East, chickpeas and aubergines. From Southeast Asia and Oceania, rice, pepper and sugar cane. From Africa, melon.From America, potatoes and tomatoes.
The existence of this cuisine is due in large part to the characteristics of the region, with the dry and rough nature of the Mediterranean Basin, where olive trees, vineyards and grain adapt perfectly. Orchards and small woods complement the landscape, along with a warm climate.
Since 2010, the Mediterranean diet has been included in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List. One of the reasons for the bid, submitted jointly by Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco, was to protect this model of healthy eating against socio-cultural changes resulting from globalisation.
Located in the Sierra de Godall of Ulldecona, the Abrics de l'Ermita (the hermitage rock shelters) are the most important set of Levantine cave paintings in Catalonia and have been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1998 and form part of the Route of Rock Art.
In this exceptional complex, the Neolithic man drew a world of beliefs or mythical stories related to the hunt. The steep cliffs of Godall were a place conducive to capturing animals and so you can see in the paintings through the various species of animals in the area, of the archers and, even, of divinities and specialists in charge of carrying out rituals. Experts say that the Neolithic society used the cave painting as a means of communication with the aim to point out places of meeting and celebration of certain rites.
The first paintings of the Sierra de Godall were discovered in 1975 in a cave in the ravine. Currently we have located up to fourteen shelters decorated by man 8,000 years ago. Just next to the shelters, the Abrics de l’Ermita Interpretation Centre for Rock Art, created by the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia, allows the visitor to discover the artistic and historical heritage of Ulldecona through graphical, photographic, audiovisual resources and replicas of the paintings.
Man has always needed to express his concerns and thoughts. When writing did not exist, artistic expression was the perfect resource to convey these ideas. The set of Rock Art of the Mediterranean basin on the Iberian peninsula consists of 757 sites with paintings, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. This is the largest set of rock art sites in Europe. In Catalonia there are the hermitage shelters of the Serra de la Pietat (Ulldecona), Roca dels Moros (Montsià) and the Cave of Vilasos or Els Vilars (Os de Balaguer), among others.
The humans who inhabited the coastal and interior mountains of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and Andalusia chose shallow caves and shelters in which to paint and engrave symbols and scenes from their daily life. In every way, the decorated walls also raise many questions about their beliefs, organisation and other aspects which are difficult to understand.
The paintings of the Mediterranean basin were made from the late Palaeolithic period up to the bronze or the iron age. Classified as Levantine art, they express ideas that until that point had been non-existent: man showing his relationship to his environment, the links with nature, beliefs and, at the same time, expressing his power and intervention in the environment in which he lives.
The creators of the cave paintings used different techniques and colours, creating various styles that scholars have classified as naturalist, schematic and macro-schematic. These last two were imposed in the final phase, and tend towards an increasingly accentuated stylisation of the expressions and by an increasing prominence of signs and symbols. The most widely used colour is red, in all its varied tones.
In 1900, the businessman Eusebio Guell commissioned Antonio Gaudi with a building consisting of 60 single-family homes for affluent families on the outskirts of Barcelona. Despite the project's modernity, it was a commercial failure that forced its promoters to close it in 1914. It is currently one of the most important public parks in Barcelona.
Gaudí experimented with architectural forms closely resembling the landscape and nature . The chosen site, with almost no vegetation, was stony and with significant ground irregularities. Gaudí took advantage of these characteristics by creating winding paths and using materials from the area, such as stones, to build covered spaces and porches supported with sloping columns.
Perhaps the most spectacular part of the park is a double set of steps with a central fountain in the shape of a dragon , all of which is covered in colourful "trencadís" mosaic (by the architect Josep Maria Jujol). The double set of steps leads to a large covered area that projects outwards like a large market, and is supported by 86 majestic Doric columns. The ceiling is adorned with colourful medallions. Above this area there is a large square, bordered by a long bench that defines an original meandering path.
The house that was built as a model of the dwellings of the future housing estate, and that was called Torre Rosa in reference to the Virgin of the Rosary, was inhabited by Antoni Gaudí himself from 1906 to 1925.
