Artistic

The visit to the Girona City History Museum starts with a look at the building itself. It is a Gothic mansion (15th century) owned by the Cartellà family, which became the Capuchin convent of Sant Antoni in the 18th century. The cemetery, the cistern and the cloister have been preserved from this time. At the end of the 19th century it was converted into a school and finally, in 1981, it was transformed into a museum. In addition, it houses the remains of the wall of the ancient Gerunda and part of the enclosure of the medieval Cal or Jewish quarter.

In all, a journey through the history of Girona which already indicates what the visitor will find on display inside: a chronological journey through the Roman, medieval, modern and contemporary Girona that is completed with a look at various Catalan traditions such as the cobla and the sardana.

Among the most notable exhibits are: the fragment of the pavement mosaic of Can Pau Birol, from 300 AD; the bronze sculpture of the Angel from the Cathedral of Girona, made in 1764 by Ramon Salvatella; modernista and noucentista works by the sculptors, Fidel Aguilar and Ricard Guinó; and posters of political events from the Transition to Democracy in Girona, among other items.

The Museum also manages the air-raid shelter of the Jardí de la Infància, from the Civil War, and the modernista branch of the Agència Gómez.

One of the consequences of the French Revolution was the birth of nationalism throughout Europe. Catalonia did not remain on the sidelines and, in the mid-19th century, the Renaixença began, a cultural movement whose aim was to make Catalan a language of literature and culture and, at the same time, to exalt the history of Catalonia and the idea of patriotism.

Within this context, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (Hiking Centre of Catalonia) was formed in 1890 in Barcelona. The founding objective was "to promote excursions around our region in order to make it better known and appreciated, and also to publish papers resulting from these excursions, creating a library and archive". And what better way, in the late 19th century, of documenting these outings than through photography.

The Centre Excursionista collected such a large amount of material that a Photographic Archive had to be created, situated on Carrer Paradís in Barcelona. Currently, it has more than 100 collections (400,000 images) from private donations and bequests. The themes are varied: in addition to landscapes of Catalonia and mountain activities, there are photographs of archaeology, caving, water sports, cycling, boxing, etc. The whole archive is an important historical legacy of Catalonia of the 19th and 20th centuries.

At the same time, the Archive also shows the technical evolution of photography. There are collodion glass plates from the 1860s, silver bromide gelatin plates from the late 19th century, nitrates, stereoscopic plates and autochromes. Also preserved is historical photographic equipment such as cameras, tripods, laboratory instruments and light meters.

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.

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.

To understand what the twentieth century meant at an artistic level for the western regions of Catalonia, you should visit the Museu d'Art Jaume Morera, dedicated to modern and contemporary art in Lleida. Various artistic disciplines are represented here: painting, sculpture, architecture, drawing, print-making, graphic design, photography, video and even comics, with a clear predominance of local artists.

Opened in 1917 in the former Sant Lluís market, it is currently located in the Casino Principal building in Lleida pending the construction of its new headquarters. The painter Jaume Morera i Galícia, who donated his art collection and acted as patron, played a very prominent role in the initial tasks of putting together the museum's art collection. In gratitude for his collaboration, the Museum was named after him.

The collection ranges from the turn of the nineteenth century up to the present day: from Baldomer Gili, Xavier Gosé and Santiago Rusiñol to Joan Brossa and Albert Bayona. One of the most important parts of the collection, however, concerns the Avant-garde of the 1930s, in which pride of place is given to 190 works by the sculptor Leande Cristòfol such as De l’aire a l’aire (From Air to the Air, 1933) or Nit de lluna (Night of the Moon, 1935).

Designed by the artist and engineer Miquel Utrillo between 1910 and 1918, the Maricel Palace became, from its very opening, a classic of the Noucentista style. Currently, the complex maintains its great artistic and architectural value intact and has become one of the most emblematic buildings in Sitges.

This monumental complex, inspired by the beauty of the ancient and modern folk art, was commissioned by the American magnate, collector and philanthropist Charles Deering (1852-1927), who wanted a residential building in which to house his magnificent collection of Hispanic art. With the reform of the old Hospital de Sant Joan and the subsequent annexation of several fishermen's houses on Carrer Fonollar, Utrillo built an exceptional ensemble which received the praise of artists and intellectuals of the time. For Joaquim Folch i Torres, the Maricel Palace was "the fruit of the culmination of modern Catalan civilisation".

With austere lines and respecting the characteristic white colour of the area, the exterior of the Palace has several terraces decorated with local ceramics and projecting above is the tower of Sant Miquel. It is crowned by a series of battlements and the façade has a Gothic sculpture of the Saint which came from the bridge in Balaguer. Throughout the building there is the characteristic emblem of the sun in red rising over the blue of the sea, the symbol of the palace designed by Utrillo himself.

Inside, the Palace is arranged around the Gold Room, the Blue Room, the Chapel Room, the Ship’s Room and the cloister – which offers a wonderful panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Of the decoration, notable items include the sculptural elements by Pere Jou and the murals in the entrance hall by Josep M. Sert, inspired by the Great War. The complex is completed with various artistic elements that combine aesthetics and functionality, the work of numerous local artisans.

Disagreements between Deering and Utrillo meant the end of the initial Maricel Palace project. However, with the recent restoration of the architectural and conceptual whole and the reorganisation of the museum collection by the Maricel Museum, this extraordinary complex has had its vocation restored as a place dedicated to the arts, heritage and culture.

Bohemian Barcelona, at the turn of the 20th century, had the café Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats) as its meeting place. Located on the ground floor of Casa Martí, a modernista building by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, from 1897, it welcomed a procession of leading intellectuals of Modernisme.

The owner of the business was Pere Romeu, who had worked as a waiter at the Le Chat Noir cabaret in Paris. He decided to open a similar business offering cheap tavern food and piano music, which was quickly adopted as a meeting place for artists. Literary evenings, puppet and shadow shows, musical evenings, poetry readings and, above all, art exhibitions were all held here. Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo, Ricard Opisso, Antoni Gaudí, Enric Granados, Isaac Albéniz and Lluís Millet were among its regular customers. Even a young Pablo Picasso had his first exhibition here.

During the six years it was open, the place was filled with paintings and posters made by those same customers. The most emblematic was Ramon Casas y Pere Romeu en un tàndem (Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu on a Tandem), which Casas himself had painted. In 1901, it was replaced by another canvas with the same characters in a car. The two works can be seen at the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia).

Nowadays, it is a bar and restaurant again, and has preserved the decoration from the era, including reproductions of the two works by Casas.

Stroll around the Artigas gardens of La Pobla de Lillet and invariably you will be reminded of Park Güell in Barcelona. This is because they are the work of the same mind: Antoni Gaudí.

In 1905, the modernista architect who, having stayed for a few days at the home of the textile industrial Joan Artigas i Alart, wanted to thank him for his hospitality by designing a naturalistic garden for an area (known as the Font de la Magnèsia) which was next to his factory, on the banks of the river Llobregat. Thus, it is as though it copied – on a small scale – the fundamentals of Park Güell, where he was working at that time. In this case, however, it is not an urban garden. Gone, therefore, are the great open spaces and colourful ceramic tile shards or trencadis. Everything is made largely with rocky stone and mortar, taking advantage of the vegetation of the area. It is as though the park had pushed its way between nature.

Along the route the visitor will find a waterfall; an artificial cave with catenary arches from where the Font de la Magnèsia gushes forth; fountains; two stone bridges; a square; and, at the highest point, the Glorieta or gazebo, which acts as a lookout point.

Gaudí's universe is present in every detail of the complex. Jardinières, handrails, benches ... Everything imitates the forms of a fanciful nature. Nor does it lack Christian references: thus there are the sculptures of the eagle, the lion and the bull, distributed around the complex, together with an angel that has now gone, which are the symbols of the four evangelists and are arranged in the shape of a cross on the plan of the garden.

While the Casa Batlló shows the excessive imagination of Gaudí and the Casa Amatller is a brilliant reinterpretation of the Gothic style by Puig i Cadafalch, the third element of Barcelona’s Mansana de la Discordia (Block of Discord), Casa Lleó i Morera, represents the elegance of details. Working on the building were the forty best craftsmen of the period, following the orders of Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

In 1902, Francesca Morera commissioned the modernist architect to remodel the property she had inherited on the Eixample. When the owner died, the work was continued by her son Albert Lleó i Morera, who gave his name to the building. In fact, allusions to the family surname are repeated in the images that decorate the building throughout.

Domènech i Montaner added a floor and a tempietto on the roof. This tower, in line with the main floor balcony, simulates a non-existent symmetry in the building. Especially notable in the richly decorated façade, are the female figures by Eusebi Arnau. The most significant example are those on the first floor balconies where there are four women who carry allegorical instruments of modernity in their hands - photography, electricity, the phonograph and telephone.
Once inside the building, both the lobby and the entrance hall of the main floor are designed to impress the visitor. In the latter, the arches and doorways have spectacular carved reliefs. One of them is the story of the lullaby, La dida de l’infant rei (the Nurse of the Infant King), a tribute to the son of the owners who died as a newborn.

Much of the work of Domènech i Montaner’s team of artisans is concentrated in the two large living rooms. Notable are the stained glass windows: eight panels of mosaic and porcelain reliefs depict rural scenes with characters from the family. The furniture and dado panels that were in these rooms are preserved in the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia).

The Casa Lleó i Morera, like other bourgeois properties, was a "house for rent" (the family of the owners lived on the main floor and the remaining floors were rented out). Even so, the desire was that the same exacting building standards and aesthetic quality should be maintained over all the floors.

It was in 1951, and the industrial engineer Eustaquio Ugalde Urosa had just bought a plot of woodland right next to the sea at Caldes d'Estrac. Sitting under a carob tree and enjoying the views, he decided to build a house in this idyllic spot that would allow him to keep the landscape as it was. He commissioned his friend Josep Antoni Coderch for the project, who designed a two-storey house and garden made up of a set of volumes that perfectly met the original brief: they are perfectly integrated with the natural environment.

The views over the sea and the landscape of the site determined the building’s construction. It sought a space for itself in the middle of the forest, where it rises discreetly, respecting the environment. Local materials were also chosen, those typical of Mediterranean popular architecture such as the stone walls, the concrete slabs, floors with red terracotta tiles, wooden roofs or with tiled vaults.

The use of Catalan construction traditions is combined with more modern architectural forms. Thus, Casa Ugalde is an irregular building, open-plan and free-flowing, both on the plan and the elevation which fosters the fluid communication between the interior and the exterior. While inside all the walls are straight, the outside is dominated by a curved wall that separates the house from the wood. Within the whole complex, the terraces play a major part. The spaces are open and well-lit, thanks to the light that enters the building from all sides and the white colour of the whole building.

Work on the house finished in 1952. Its external appearance has been maintained up to the present day, despite the reforms of successive owners.