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.
At 6,000 years old, the Gava Prehistoric Mines is the oldest mining area with galleries in Europe. The mines were dedicated to the extraction of variscite (or cal·laïta in Catalan), a semiprecious mineral used to make jewelry.
Apart from the complex mining network, the site is known for archaeological remains that have been found there, which reflect the socioeconomic and cultural context of the Neolithic era in the Iberian Peninsula. Stone, bone and wood tools (metals were still unkown at that time), ceramic fragments and remnants of building materials are examples of these Neolithic remains.
One of the most outstanding objects is the Venus of Gavà, an anthropomorphic figure made of black ceramic. It is an incomplete piece and broken into several fragments, from which one can make out a female form, featuring a proportional and symmetrical structure, sun-shaped eyes and the upper limbs resting on a prominent belly. Venus de Gavà could be the image of a goddess of fertility and is one of the few religious Neolithic representations in existence in the Peninsula.
The artistic demonstrations (Venus and the jewelry) and the complexity of the mines show that the inhabitants of the area were an advanced society with strong religious beliefs.
For centuries, Els Vilars (or Vilasos), a small cave to the West of Os de Balaguer, was used as a shelter by shepherds, evidence of which can be seen on the walls and blackened ceilings. However, it was not until the 1970s that 4,000-year-old old cave paintings were discovered behind the smoke marks. Currently they form part of the collection of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Despite its small size -no more than 60 m2- the cave is richly decorated: up to 28 figures or tracings have been identified. Altogether there are three groups of figures that are particularly significant due to their content. The first consists of a dance scene, in which a man has his arms around the waists of two women dressed in skirts that are typical in Levantine cave painting. The three figures are painted in a deep red.
Another of the groups comprises four concentric circles and is believed to be a heliolithic representation, a tribute to the Sun. Finally, at the back of the cave, there is a hunting scene, where goats, wolves, foxes, and even a doe are all depicted.
The location of the cave is excellent.Thanks to its position, it receives the first ray of sunlight and, at the same time, it provides a wide view of the Valley of the River Farfanya.
