At the top of a hill overlooking the "Conca de Tremp" (Tremp Basin), there is a group of monuments that could be represent a large part of medieval life: the Castell de Mur and, at barely one hundred metres in size, the Col·legiata de Santa Maria de Mur. These two buildings are symbols of spiritual and military domination of a border territory that had just been conquered by Muslims. They were lands under the jurisdiction of one of the prominent names of the medieval Pallars: Arnau Mir de Tost.
The architectural structure of the castle is simple but very unique and consists of a walled perimeter and boat-shaped ground floor, which has a unique gateway with southern access. The area is 31 metres long and the one-metre-thick wall has a height that varies between 14 and 18 metres. It forms a slightly irregular triangle, because of the rock on which it is constructed, with rounded corners. It is an exemplary piece of the civil military architecture of the eleventh century, with exceptionally well-conserved perimeter walls.
All the work is constructed with a small and regular bond, characteristic of the First Romanesque, and conserved within the enclosure, there lies the circular master tower; about 16 metres high, divided into four floors and bearing loophole windows.
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.
Occupied by man since the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic Age until the Metal Ages, the Serinyà Prehistoric Cave Park consists of several shelters or caves (the Arbreda, the Mollet and the Reclau Viver).
Studies carried out have shown that this is one of the best sites in Western Europe for discovering the progression of Neanderthal man to modern man. About 200,000 years ago (Middle Paleolithic) it was inhabited by the pre-Neanderthals (Homo heidelbergensis); later (between 90,000 and 39,000 years ago) the Neanderthals lived there and finally, during the Upper Paleolithic, the caves provided a refuge for modern man (Homo sapiens). All of them inhabited this place during the last glacial periods, when the landscape was very different to that of today.
The most important discoveries include a skull found in 1973, which is the oldest remains of modern human in Catalonia (22,300 years old).
The first archaeological excavations were started by Pere Alsius i Torrent in the second half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, they were continued by Dr. Josep Maria Corominas (1943) and today, work is being carried out by researchers from the University of Girona and the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia-Girona. In 1996, the County Council of Pla de l'Estany started on the construction of the current Park.
Built in 1847 on the Rambla of Barcelona, the Gran Teatre del Liceu was converted from its beginnings into a symbol of the emerging bourgeoisie of Barcelona and Catalonia.
The origin of the Liceu must be situated in the "Liceo Filarmónico Dramático Barcelona de SM la Reina Isabel II" (Barcelona Dramatic and Philharmonic Lyceum of HM Queen Isabel II), an organisation created to fill the need for a music conservatory in the city. The success of the initiative resulted in the construction of a new theatre, which was financed through commercial efforts: the boxes and seats were owned.
In its more than 150 years of history, it has seen three tragic events: the fire of 1861, the anarchist bomb of 1893, and the devastating fire of 1994. The last reconstruction, which lasted five years, has modernised the building, retaining as much as possible of its original essence. Notable is the Hall of Mirrors and its decoration of gilded and polychrome plaster mouldings.
With 2,292 seats, it is currently one of the largest opera houses in the world, and each year puts on more than forty opera performances, as well as dance, recitals, concerts and children's shows.
Walking through the Colònia Vidal Museum at Puig-reig allows to us know what life and work was like in a Catalan textile colony of the early 20th century. Spaces such as the school, the factory or the homes give testimony to the Industrial Revolution in Catalonia.
Situated right next to the Llobregat river in order to use its water as a source of energy, the Colònia Vidal formed part of one of the main concentrations of textile colonies in Europe. Notable within the architectural complex are buildings such as the owner’s tower, the manager’s tower, the factory, the Church, the Casino Theatre and the house of the women/school.
The Museum opened in 1995, and is part of the Regional Network of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya. A route is suggested for visitors that will show them the facilities of the workers' colony such as the homes, the school, the library, the fishmonger, the washroom or the showers. The visit also includes a permanent exhibition which tells the story of the daily life of men and women who worked at the factory.
Between Cambrils and Montbrió del Camp is one of the best examples of romantic gardening in the Mediterranean. The Samà Parc is a mix of botanical garden, zoo and native forest, which today is still seducing its visitors thanks to the beauty and harmony of the whole and its delicate exoticism.
The developer of the park was Salvador Samà i Torrents, Marquis of Marianao, belonging to a Latin-American family who had settled in Cuba and who wanted to bring the atmosphere of the old colony to Baix Camp. The project was carried out by Josep Fontserè i Mestre, creator of the great cascade of the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona.
In 1881 he began planting in the Park with long rows of plane trees, mandarin trees, limes, horse chestnuts, water lilies, palms and yuccas, among other plant species. Later, the Park hosted animals from the Marquis’ private zoo which were exhibited in several enclosures and cages. Equally important in the composition of the Park are the architectural elements: the palace, the lake and the waterfall, the Pavelló dels Lloros (pavilion of the parrots) and the Torre de l’Angle (the angular tower) are the most notable.
To study, preserve and disseminate the history of the city; the Museu d’Història de Barcelona (Museum of the History of Barcelona - MUHBA) provides an explanatory showcase of the city through an extensive collection and various outstanding heritage areas. The Museum brings together cultural material that explains the past and the present and this translates into a rich and heterogeneous collection that continues to grow. The MUHBA is a mirror on the many faces of the city: an important historic centre, a new modernista city and a diverse complex of old towns and newly created districts.
The monumental complex of Plaça del Rei has been the foundational core of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona since it was created in 1943. In the ground beneath the Casa Padellàs you can see an important part of ancient Barcino; the visit allows you to stroll through the streets of Roman Barcelona, get close to the walls from the time, enter a laundry from the 2nd century AD, see the remains of the first Christian community of the city, etc. The complex is completed with important medieval buildings such as the Palau Reial Major (Royal Palace) and the Tinell salon. But in addition to these landmarks, the headquarters of MUHBA has a permanent exhibition, displaying pieces about the ancient municipal government, the guilds and brotherhoods of Barcelona, the cotton industry, festive and popular imagery of the city, nineteenth-century Barcelona and the urban reforms.
Over the years, this historic centre has expanded considerably and now includes up to 15 heritage spaces spread around the city. Notable is the Temple of Augustus, the Roman Sepulchral Way, the Call, Park Güell, Santa Caterina, the Turó de la Rovira and Fabra i Coats, among others.
The Drassanes Reials, the Royal Shipyards of Barcelona, were the great factory for the galleys that the Crown of Aragon needed at the height of its Mediterranean expansion. Located by the sea and at the foot of Montjuïc, for many years it was thought that they were the largest and most complete medieval shipyards in the world to have been preserved. But the excavations in 2012 showed that, at the end of the 16th century, on top of the old medieval building,a new shipyard had been constructed that corresponds to the current building.
The King Jaume I instigated the creation of the shipyards, even though it was Pere III who, in collaboration with the city and the Government of Catalonia, gave the final impetus at the end of the 14th century. The first building of this infrastructure was a large walled construction with a tower at each corner; later it was covered and expanded. The large gothic hall of eight naves that we see today dates from the 16th century, although it maintains the original gothic style. It is a wide and well-illuminated space thanks to the large windows and is covered with a wooden roof.
Currently the building is home to the Museu Marítim de Barcelona (Barcelona Maritime Museum). The collection was started in 1929 and has been enriched over the years. Highlights include the models of ships, nautical instruments, votive offerings, maritime paintings, figureheads and cartography. Also very popular are the replicas of the Royal Galley of Joan d’Àustria and the schooner of Santa Eulàlia.
Defined by the playwright Àngel Guimèra as one of the cathedrals of wine, the modernista cellar of Pinell del Brai is the architectural expression of the agricultural cooperatives in Catalonia at the end of the 19th century. Its construction, in 1919, was the responsibility of Cèsar Martinell who used all the elements of the traditional Catalan architecture, the modernista aesthetic, and enriched it with the technical innovations of his teacher Antoni Gaudí.
The light that is filtered from the windows, the floor plan reminiscent of a church and the feeling of spaciousness recreates the interior of a Gothic Cathedral. But beyond the architectural beauty of the building, Martinell created a functional space designed for the production of wine. For this reason, some important technical innovations were incorporated: the structure of the warehousing based on parabolic arches, the ventilation system through large windows or insulation in the cavity walls of the containers in which the wine is made.
The most characteristic element of the winery is undoubtedly the glazed ceramic frieze on the façade designed by the painter Francesc Xavier Nogués, where there are scenes of the harvest and the production of wine and oil. Despite it being spectacular, due to the lack of budget, it was taken out of the initial project and was not incorporated until 1949.
Who says that a hospital has to be white and devoid of all decoration? Thanks to the legacy of the banker Pau Gil, in 1902 the modernist architect, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, planned a hospital full of beauty, rich in ornamentation, colour and vegetation.
It is a monumental complex consisting of 27 red brick pavilions located on the border between the districts of Eixample and Guinardó. It is a true hospital city where, surrounded by gardens, medical and general treatments are provided, and where apartments and a church are located. Everything is connected via a 2 km underground passage systemthat allows patients to move about without going outside.
The project by Domènech i Montaner, that would be finished by his son in 1930, is a completely innovative architectural and urban conceptin terms of the typical 20th century hospital. The hospital separated services to avoid contagion and favoured natural light and open spaces to freshen the air and provide a more pleasing environment for the patients .
After more than 80 years of healthcare activity, the hospital was moved to new buildings in 2009. Once vacated and renovated, Domènech i Montaner's modernist pavilions became the home of other institutions.
