Historical

If you want to take a trip back in time and get an insight into the Spanish Civil War, Poble Vell de Corbera d'Ebre is a must-see.

Located at the top of the Montera hillock, it is one of the most symbolic places of the Battle of the Ebro, the most difficult and decisive of the war. Between 25 July and 16 November 1938, after 115 intense days of conflict, life in Corbera d'Ebre changed.

Located on the front line of the Republican Front, the old part of the village was destroyed by aerial bombardment and artillery from Franco's army. The village was abandoned and, over time, the community moved to the lower part of the hill and built Poble Nou.

Now Poble Vell is a place of memory, an open-air museum. It provides a first-hand account of the historical facts and the devastating consequences of the war. In addition to the streets and houses, we can also admire the monuments to the International Brigades and the 'Permanent Flame', the sculpture 'The Boot', by Joan Brossa, and 'La Foradada'. A must-see is the Freedom Alphabet, a collection of 28 works spread out around the town to emphasise the value of words over force and violence. And the spectacular late 18th-century Baroque church, Església Vella de Sant Pere, which remained standing despite the battle. It has since been restored and now hosts artistic and cultural events.

In 1992, Poble Vell de Corbera d'Ebre was declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest by the Government of Catalonia and is a monument to Peace.

Castelldefels Castle is perched on a hill at 59 metres above sea level. This monumental ensemble, which lends its name to the town, was built in the 10th century over what had been an Iberian settlement and, later, a Roman villa.

The castle was strategically constructed overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, overlooking a commanding position to control the territory and the coastal strip.

It was used for centuries as a fortress to defend the Eramprunyà barony, and was restored and fortified in the 16th century against attacks by Berber privateers.

Piracy began to fade away in the 18th century, and the castle fell into the hands of several noble families. One name that is closely associated with the fortification is the banker Manuel Girona, who bought and spearheaded the restoration of this iconic city landmark in 1897.

During the 20th century, it was used as a military training centre by the Republican authorities during the Civil War in 1937 and early 1938. Shortly afterwards, the castle and church were converted into a prison for international brigade members in March of the same year. Visitors can see original graffiti by these brigadiers in Santa Maria church in Castelldefels. This 10th-century church is the part of the ensemble that retains the oldest remains, with walls dating from the Iberian, Roman, medieval, modern and contemporary periods.

Both the castle and the church have been declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest.

Another impressive feature is the Fencing Room, which is decorated with 18th century paintings, and the Institutional Room, or the Noble Room, which bore witness to the grand feasts and celebrations attended by the Catalan bourgeoisie at the beginning of the 20th century, and which retains its neo-Gothic décor.

The Castle-Palace of la Bisbal d’Empordà, a construction that was at the same time castle, palace and prison, is one of the few examples of Romanesque civil architecture conserved in Catalan territory.

Located in the middle of a Medieval village, it was occupied for centuries by the lords of the region, the Bishops of Girona. The clergy obtained absolute control of la Bisbal (hence the name's origin) thanks to King Jaume I who granted them civil and criminal jurisdiction of the city. The castle became the site of spiritual and terrestrial power of its Lords. From its vantage point in the centre of the village, the bishops controlled the lands bathed by the river Daró and also administered justice which spurred the need for a prison.

The first thing that draws attention in the castle-palace is its sheer grandness. Boasting a rectangular layout, the original Romanesque building has been modified numerous times with structures of other styles (like the door and some Renaissance windows in the façade). As characteristic elements of Romanesque architecture we find semicircular voussoired windows in the North East and North West façade of the castle. In the latter area, there is also a basement constructed with inclined bricks, known as opus spicatum, a commonly utilised technique during antiquity and the first Middle Ages. Once inside the castle, we pass through a clearly Romanesque corridor, covered by a quarter circle vault and, descending the stairs we find the famous castle prison, a rectangular room covered with a semicircular arch.

The doors of the five rooms on the first floor are also crowned by these arches. If the bottom-most part is the prison, the highest part is the location of the chapel of Sant Miquel, also in the Romanesque style. The chapel is located in a rectangular space that, seen from the outside, is the most outstanding of the entire complex. With only a single nave the church is covered by a slightly pointed barrel vault.
 
The Castle-Palace of la Bisbal d’Empordà is part of the ‘Romanesque weekend: L'Empordà’ getaway.

Scribes, illuminators and miniaturists worked side by side in the workshop of the monastery of Ripoll, one of the centres of cultural reference in Medieval Europe. This celebrated workshop produced numerous manuscripts of great artistic quality, above all under the orders of the Abbot Oliba. Made in the first quarter of the 11th century, the Bible of Ripoll and the Bible of Rodes are the most enlightened that have come to us from the Romanesque period.

The monk Guifré (Wilfred), was the only copyists of these Bibles; the principal illustrator was, as historians have identified him, “an artist of the impressionist style.” His brushstroke was “original, decided and energetic” and he is responsible for the vast majority of the illustrations in the codex. With a different and less successful style, we find the third monk who participated in the Bible. He is clearly identified thanks to a peculiar characteristic: he had a propensity to make round faces, a bit full and utilised tools like the compass and the drawing pen to trace straight and curved lines.

The Bible of Ripoll is a large format volume (550x370mm) that contains 465 folios. More than the Sacred Scriptures, the codex includes 210 prologues, summaries and other introductory texts that make the Bible of Ripoll a type of “great illustrated medieval encyclopaedia.” The “font” of the texts is the pure Carolingian script by the monk Guifré (Wilfred), the only copyist of this work. The impressive miniatures and drawings in the work are renowned: we find 20 folios completely illustrated with miniatures that inspired the iconography of the lauded Portal of the monastery.

However, the Bible of Ripoll wasn't the only bible to come out of the rich workshop of the monastery. The first quarter of the 11^th century was prolific and, in total, there were three codices of this type made in Ripoll. In modern times only two are preserved, as the other copy disappeared in a fire in 1835.
The Bible of Ripoll was copied in the workshop and moved to Marseilles by the monks of the Monestir de Sant Víctor when the two abbeys were joined in 1070. Finally, in the 12^th century, the manuscript was taken to the Vatican thanks to the nephew of Pau V, and guarded in the Vatican Apostolic Library.

The third codex is known as the Bible of Rodes and was a gift of the Abbot Oliba from the Monestir de Sant Pere de Rodes with the motive of consecrating his monastic church (1022). This copy was stolen in the 17^th century by the French marshal Noailles during the looting of the monastery and later sold to the king Lluís XV.

The Bible of Rodes is written on vellum in what is known as pure Carolingian script. Originally it had 566 folios that, in the 18^th century in the hands of the French, were divided into four volumes. The artistic richness of the miniatures was important in and of itself but above all, for the great influence it had in inspiring Romanesque painting and sculpture. Art historians assume that the illustrations of the Bible inspired a fresco of the Crucifixion of Christ recovered from the cloister of Sant Pere de Rodes, some of the historic capitals (today in the National Museum of the Middle Ages of Paris) and scenes from the magnificent portal of Ripoll. It is now conserved in the National Library of France.

In 2002 and 2007, about a thousand years after its original edition, the two copies were reedited in copied version.

How were the magistral formulas (medical preparations) prepared in the 15^th, 16^th or 17^th centuries? The pharmacy of Llívia, one of the oldest in Europe, reveals this mystery. It was already in existence in 1415. One of the first owners was the apothecary Jaume Esteve and the pharmacy remained in the family for 23 generations. Finally, in 1942, Lleó Antoni Esteve closed it down and it was given over to the care of the City Council and, later, to the Province of Girona.

Since 1981, the pharmacy equipment has formed part of the Municipal Museum of Llívia. The furniture, laboratory instruments, preparation and even glass jars from the 19th century have been preserved. Notable are the wooden Renaissance boxes painted with portraits of saints, sages, apothecaries and doctors.

However, the most distinctive characteristic of the collection are the albarello or cobalt blue ceramic pharmacy jars. The smaller jars, which used to contain the most precious or dangerous products, are kept in the cordialer. This piece of polychrome 18th-century furniture is one of the most eye-catching items in the collection. Also preserved is the library which contains, among other things, the book of formulas. The pharmacy space is contextualised by a series of audiovisual and digital resources.

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.

Strategically located at the top of the mountain of Montjuïc, the castle, which bears the same name, is an imposing defensive construction that follows the model of star-shaped fortifications. Its current appearance is due to the reformations carried out on the old installations by the military engineer, Juan Martín Cermeño, during the 18th century.

But, beyond its architecture, Montjuic Castle has been the scene of numerous bloody episodes and acts of repression throughout its 400 year history. Currently, the site is the property of the city and has become a symbol of Barcelona.

The origins of the castle date back to 1640, during the Catalan Revolt (the Guerra dels Segadors), when a small fort was built around an ancient watchtower. This was the beginning of the militarisation of the mountain, something which marked its history until the middle of the 20th century.

This small initial fortification was completely renovated and modernised by Juan Martín Cermeño. After the war of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), ownership of the castle passed to the monarchy and a permanent garrison was established. Along with the Citadel, Montjuïc became the guardian of the city of Barcelona.

The renovation led to the demolition of the original fort and the construction of new buildings on an irregular trapezoidal plan adapted to the topography of the mountain, with four bastions at the ends and a covered perimeter path. Cermeño completed the "modernisation" of the facilities with the provision of toilets and water tanks and ordered the construction of the moat.

Throughout the 19th century, the castle once again had a military importance in the repression of insurrectionist movements in the city. Up to 3 times (1842-1843 and 1856) Barcelona was bombarded from the fortress, which was also used to imprison unionists, anarchists and revolutionaries, as well as during the Setmana Tràgica (Tragic Week) of 1909. With the Spanish Civil War the Republican government used the area for similar purposes. Later, the castle instead became a War Memorial to the victors, a military prison and the scene of councils of war (its most political significance was as the site of execution of the president, Lluís Companys).

It became a military museum in 1963. Finally, the Castle passed to municipal ownership in 2007, definitively closing the doors of the museum and taking back the space for the city.

In the 17th century, the Papiol family settled in Vilanova de Cubelles, what is now Vilanova i la Geltrú. Their power and their properties increased until they became one of the most influential families of the time. A good demonstration of this can be seen in the house: a 5-storied mansion right on the main street, something which few families could afford.

The house was built in 1790 for Francesc de Papiol i Padró and it took 11 years to finish. An austere neo-classical façade hides opulent lounges in which, right up until the 1950s, the local high society would gather. In 1961, it was opened to the public as the Museum of Romanticism, following in the footsteps of the Can Llopis in Sitges. It has kept the original structure, layout and decoration.

The piano nobile (main floor), the main residence of the family, reflects a refined nineteenth century taste in which the grisailles on the walls stand out. During the visit you can see the music room, the billiards room, and in particular the large ballroom, where the family received guests. The tour also takes in the private rooms of the master of the house and the bathrooms and dressing rooms. The house also has a small private chapel, in the neo-classical style, and a library of about 6,000 volumes dating from between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The mansion is further divided into two areas: the servants area (which includes a kitchen, a bread oven and pantry) and farm labourer’s area (barn, cellar and stable). At the rear of the residence there is a romantic garden that houses carriages and bicycles from the time.