The Palau de la Generalitat, located in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona, is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that have been maintained as a seat of Government and for the same institution for which it was built.
The original house, on Carrer Sant Honorat, was acquired in 1400 and during the 15th century it was expanded and converted into a new gothic palace, the work of Marc Safont. Among the best preserved elements from this period are the Gothic Gallery and the Chapel of Sant Jordi.
During the 16th century, the Palau de la Generalitat grew with a new part which respected the previous Gothic style such as the Cambra Daurada (Golden Chamber) and the first Pati dels Tarongers(courtyard planted with orange trees). The most radical changes came with the extension towards the Plaça Sant Jaume (1597-1619): the current main façade was inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and there are four Doric columns of Roman origin dating from the 2nd century.
The last major changes in the building happened in the period of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya, the Catalan Commonwealth, (1914-1925): items such as the staircase of honour and the equestrian statue of Sant Jordi were added. Notable from the 1970s is the acquisition of more than a hundred pieces of modern, avant-garde and contemporary art by artists such as Montserrat Gudiol, Josep Maria Subirachs, Antoni Clavé, Joan Hernández Pizjuán, and Antoni Tàpies.
Empúries is the only archaeological site in the Iberian Peninsula where the remains of a Greek city Empòrion coexist with those from the Roman city, Emporiae. It is also the gateway to the classical culture: Ten centuries of history that transformed, forever, the ancient Iberian peoples that inhabited it.
The first settlement of the Greeks was in the 6th century BCE on a small island off the coast of the Gulf of Roses (Palaia Polis, ancient city), and then moved to the mainland to establish what was known as the Neàpolis, the new city. In 218 BCE, the port of Empúries was used as an entry point to the peninsula for the Roman troops in their fight against the Carthaginian army. Between the 6th century BCE and the 5th century AD, Empúries has been a port, a commercial enclave, a western colony of Greece, the first Roman encampment on the peninsula, a prosperous Roman city...
The current Greek ruins belong to the city from the Hellenistic period. During the visit there we would find the precincts Asclepius and Serapis, the small industry which produced canned fish and sauces, the Agorá or public square and the remains of the floor of a banqueting room with an inscription in Greek.
Notable from the Roman period is the Domus 1 with the mosaics that decorated the ground, the Insula 30 (area occupied by the city’s public baths), the Forum, the remains of the Basilica and the Curia and the tabernae or shops.
Half way along the route you can visit the Museum of the Empúries excavations which houses the exceptional original sculpture of Asclepius found at the site.
It is therefore a privileged space for understanding the evolution of the Greek and Roman urban development and is a turning point in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. Currently it is one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archaeological Museum of Catalonia).
Tarragona and its surrounding area retains important traces of the Roman influence in the Iberian Peninsula. The archaeological complex of Tarraco was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000: the urban development of the city, as well as the density and the quality of the remains, make it a universal and incomparable asset.
The archaeological complex includes several monuments from the 3rd century BC until the 6th century AD, which are very well preserved. All of these are characteristic of provincial capitals, as was ancient Tarraco. The walls are notable for being the oldest construction in the city and an example of military engineering. Of the forum, the large square in which much of public life was focused, a section of arcade of the Basilica and part of a street are preserved; the rest of the complex is still hidden beneath the footprints of the modern buildings.
The theatre was built in an area outside the walls, very close to the forum and, as was usual, made use of the slope of the land. The three elements that define a Roman Theatre have been partially preserved: cavea (or the tiered seating), orchestra and scaena (stage). In the circus, the space where the cart races were run, a good part of the vaults and some sections of terracing, the remains of the façade and the podium, can be seen today, as well as some of the monumental doors through which the building was accessed.
But without doubt, the amphitheatre is the most iconic of the Roman trail in the city, and completes the trilogy of theatrical buildings. The characteristic arena is present – where all the spectacles were performed - surrounded by the cavea to accommodate the public; the remains visible today in the arena are from the Basilica and the Romanesque church of Santa Maria del Miracle ( 12th century), built on the same spot where the popular Saints of Tarragona, Fructuós, Auguri and Eulogi, suffered martyrdom.
On the outskirts of the city, near the Francolí River, the Early-Christian Necropolis constitutes one of the most extensive and important burial areas of Tarraco: this exceptional cemetery is considered the largest and most important in the whole of the west of the Roman Empire, with more than 2,000 burials.
Around Tarraco we find other buildings of great importance such as the Ferreres Aqueduct (Devil's bridge), the Triumphal Arch of Barà, the mausoleum of Centcelles, the Mèdol quarry and the Villa of Els Munts, among others.
Founded as a military camp by Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, Tarraco prospered both thanks to its coastal location and to its position in relation to the land routes to the interior of the peninsula. Thus, the city became a Roman colony, head of a conventus -a judicial demarcation - and capital of the province of Hispania Citerior and Tarraconensis.
Under the waters of El Port de la Selva bay, resting for more than 2,000 years, the Cap del Vol, a Roman vessel that sank with its cargo of wine and which has been baptised with the name of the beach where the wreck remains. From the outset, the researchers realised that the Cap del Vol was not a conventional Roman ship: the characteristics of its naval architecture were quite different from other wrecks (sunken ships) from the same period.
In particular, the draught of the vessel (the distance between the waterline and the keel) is lower than that of other ships and its keel is not pronounced. Features that made it ideal for sailing in shallow waters or in wetland areas and the scholars believe that in reality it was a ship built by the indigenous population of the area.
El Cap del Vol was carrying a load of wine stored in amphora and it is believed that it made the trip between the Catalan coast and that of Narbonne. Among the most remarkable finds there is a coin from Arse (Sagunt) and the cork in one of the amphora.
The Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona (AHCB) is the institution in charge of custody, preservation, treatment and dissemination of historical documents generated by the government of the city since the 13th century, when the Barcelona municipal government was created, and until the liberal revolution of the mid-19th century.
Over time, a wide range of archival materials, bibliographic and newspaper collections of historical interest have been incorporated and it has become one of the most important archival centres of Catalonia and an essential reference for historians.
From the 1920s the headquarters of the archive has been the
Currently the holdings and collections of the historical archive of the city of Barcelona are divided into three main sections: documentary collections, the library and the newspaper library.
The Regional Archives Network (XAC) is made up of regional archives that work to ensure the principles of provenance and regionality in the treatment and access to documents.
Each of the 41 archives of the network is responsible for organising, preserving, disseminating and facilitating access to the documentation and documentary heritage of their region, and also collaborates with the various public administrations.
In addition, they are also in charge of the custody of the documents of the municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants, notary protocols more than 100 years old, the documentation regarding the administration of Justice, the public records of the State, and any other documentation of historic or cultural interest for the area.
Since 1981 the three provincial archives (Girona, Lleida, Tarragona) also form part of the Regional Archives Network of the Catalan Government.
With the aim of cataloguing, preserving and disseminating the bibliographic heritage of Catalonia, in 1983 the Catalan Government created the Collective Catalogue of Catalonia’s Bibliographic Heritage (CCPBC).
Managed by the Biblioteca de Catalunya, the CCPBC is a cooperative cataloguing project open to all types of institutions that have bibliographic collections relating to heritage. It contains bibliographic descriptions of printed documents that range from the very beginnings of printing until the start of the 20th century, as well as manuscripts and other types of documentary heritage interest conserved in the libraries of Catalonia.
Some of the major libraries with bibliography of patrimonial interest are, in addition to the Biblioteca de Catalunya, the institutions such as the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, the Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet, the Ateneu Barcelonès, the Library of Montserrat, the Episcopal Library of Vic, Casa Asia, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, the Josep Pla Foundtion, the Institute of Catalan Studies, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia, among others.
The CCPBC has collaborated in the preparation of the bibliographic heritage of the Spanish State since 1992, and from 2007 has also formed part of the Collective Catalogue of Catalan Universities (CCUC).
To find out about the historical memory of the country, the conservation of the documentary heritage becomes key. In Catalonia, 330 archives are in charge of preserving and dissemination of this valuable personal, legal and institutional testimony.
Whether they are publicly owned (local, regional, provincial or national), belong to official bodies (universities, professional associations, etc.) or belong to private entities (associations, foundations, etc.), in all these archives you can find very diverse documentation: textual, audio-visual, cartographic and electronic.
The Catalonia Archives System (SAC) is the body that oversees standards and common procedures for the management and dissemination of the documentary heritage of Catalonia. These include, among others, the archives of the Catalan Government, the Crown of Aragon, the archives of municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, the provincial councils, the archives of the universities and of the parishes and the churches.
The four great Chronicles were written in the late 13th and 14th centuries and form the finest histographical collection from medieval Europe. Their authors, Jaume I, Bernat Desclot, Ramon Muntaner and Pere el Cerimoniós, aimed to leave a record of facts which they intended would be of educational value. The works of Jaume I and Pere el Cerimoniós are considered to be the only autobiographies of medieval monarchs.
In the first of the Chronicles, the Llibre dels feits, King Jaume I tells of the facts of his life, leaving out those that might have harmed the image he wanted to convey of a heroic and courtly monarch.
In the Llibre del rei En Pere, Bernat Desclot, there is no direct evidence of what he relates. Although it is noted for its careful documentation, its story offers a clearly interpretative vision of Pere el Gran.
Although there is direct evidence many of the facts told in the Llibre de Ramon Muntaner, the author manipulates history. He also doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for monarchs, whom he considers to be supernatural beings protected by divine grace.
The fourth of the Chronicles, the Llibre del Rei Pere III, is noted for its literary quality. However, it has always been the least appreciated because of its distance from the epic and chivalrous spirit and presents a King obsessed with imitating and surpassing his predecessors.
The codices of the four major Chronicles are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.
The MHC is a museum designed to stimulate interest in the evolution of Catalan culture. In the Palau de Mar, one of the few conserved buildings of the old port of Barcelona, visitors follow a thought-provoking story that is divided into eight stages, starting in prehistoric times and finishing in the present day to, and taken from a social, economic, political and cultural point of view.
During the tour, you will find objects and documents, historical recreations and audiovisual and interactive scenes, which in an entertaining way, illustrate the history of this nation.
The visitor even gets the opportunity to climb onto the horse of a Lord in the war of the Middles Ages and hide in a trench of the Civil War.
