The Exile Memorial Museum (MUME) is the first museum facility dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of Republican exiles caused by the Spanish Civil War.
Located at la Jonquera, the border crossing where most of the exiles escaped, the MUME is defined as a space for memory, history and critical reflection. A project that is not only limited to the task of exhibition but which promotes historical research and educational outreach.
Its permanent exhibition presents the phenomenon of exile throughout history, placing the emphasis on the Civil War and the subsequent republican defeat and withdrawal. The dispersion of refugees through the Pyrenees on the path to France and the fate of several thousand refugees who crossed the border is one of the points of interest of the exhibition. The experiences of the exiles and their cultural legacy from testimonies and documentary heritage complete the exhibition.
2700 years ago a tribe of the ilergetes created a settlement on a plain near the current Arbeca (Les Garrigues). It was a good place to cultivate the land. But despite the serenity of the place, the ilergetes feared enemy attacks and therefore raised an imposing fortification which was almost impregnable. This makes Els Vilars a unique construction in the Iberian, Catalan and European worlds and one of the essential stops on the Iberian Route.
In an oval shape, the fortress was completely walled and had watchtowers. To access it there were only two, small doors. If entering the settlement was difficult, approaching it wasn’t an easy task either: in front of the walls, a barrier of stones stuck in the ground (chevaux-de-frise) prevented the passage of outsiders on foot or on horseback. A large moat completed the defensive works. Inside, the homes were arranged around a square dominated by a huge pit.
All these structures are visible today, thanks to the restoration and conservation of the site. Seen from the air, its perfectly oval plan can be appreciated and the edges of the rectangular homes that housed the hundred or so inhabitants that lived in Els Vilars.
The ilergetes lived there for 400 years and then left the site abruptly. Why they did is still a mystery. Its strength was so unique it became a model for the Iberians of the Peninsula.
Olèrdola has known the presence of man from the Bronze Age until well into the 20th century. This fact shows the strategic importance of a settlement located on the hill of Sant Miquel, which overlooks the Penedès plain. Olèrdola is currently one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Catalonia Archaeology Museum) and is part of the Iberian Route.
Its position made Olèrdola an ideal place in times of war but barely habitable during periods of peace. For this reason, the site also has known long periods of abandonment.
The population have left their mark. There is an Iberianoppidum, a fortified and walled village. There is also an impressive Roman fortification to control the territory and, in particular, the access road to Tarraco (the old name for Tarragona). Finally, within the group is a medieval town, with Romanesque and Pre-Romanesque churches (Sant Miquel and Santa Maria), the castle and anthropomorphic tombs dug out of the rock.
At the beginning of the 12th century, the decline of Olèrdola and the displacement of the population in the plain began.
Currently preserved are the remains of the Castle, the Church of Sant Miquel, a Romanesque building, and the Necropolis of Sant Miquel, an excellent display of the characteristic burials from the High Middle Ages.
History stops again and again at Roses. Founded as a Greek colony, its location makes it a strategic point in the Mediterranean. For this reason, the site has experienced various occupations and has been a target of numerous attacks. Today, the Ciutadella is a modern cultural centre and an extraordinary site.
Brought together over an area of 139,000 m2 are the archaeological remains of the Greek colony and later Roman colony of Rhode, the Romanesque monastery of Santa Maria and the structure of the old village of Roses, which even retains some medieval fortifications.
The current walls are fortified with large bastions dating back to the Renaissance and modern eras. It was in the 16th century that the King Carles V the Holy Roman Emperor, commanded the Ciutadella and the Castell de la Trinitat to be built to protect them from pirates and Turks.
In 1814 the French themselves were the ones who wanted the Ciutadella, which has been restored and was opened to the public at the end of the 20th century.
Since 2004 within the enclosure, you can visit the Museu de la Ciutadella, a contemporary building which summarises the history of the complex.
When she was just a little over 30 years old, the Queen Elisenda de Montcada withdrew from the world, remaining a widow. And she did it in the Monastery of Pedralbes, which she had founded in 1326 in the mountains of Sant Pere Màrtir (Barcelona). She lived there 37 years, with only the claretian nuns and the Gothic architecture for company.
The Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes was built in just 13 months and is noted for its great architectural homogeneity in the Gothic style. The white stones (petras albas), used to build the complex, gave their name to the area: Pedralbes.
Among the jewels of the monastery there is the small chapel of Sant Miquel, which is noted for the fresco and oil paintings (14th century), an exceptional testimony of the Catalan Gothic painting; the Gothic stained-glass windows of the interior of the church (considered the most important in Catalonia both for their antiquity and their good state of preservation) and the cloister. This is one of the largest and most impressive in the world.
Also noteworthy is the tomb of Queen Elisenda. Located between the Church and the cloister, it is a bi-frontal tomb representing her two sides: from the Church she is seen dressed and crowned as a Queen and, from the cloister, she appears as a widow and nun, with the simple Franciscan habit.
At the foot of the Cathedral of Girona, a small dome peeks above a stone building. It is the lantern of the city’s Arab baths which identifies the silhouette of this little jewel.
The building is captivating for the simplicity of its forms and, once inside, to the beauty of the play between light and darkness. The building is in the Romanesque style but follows the model of Roman baths, the Arab baths and the Jewish mikvahs from a tradition that was restored during the 11th century, with the development of the urban areas and the need to improve hygiene.
The building is divided into several rooms that allow one to move from the areas with the coldest water to those with the hottest. Visitors enter through a small vestibule that leads up to the apodyterium (the 'undressing room’);it is without doubt the most emblematic space in the baths, with a central pool of 8 sides and 8 columns crowned with beautiful decorated capitals.
Until the 14th century, the building maintained its activity as public baths. In the 20th century, the Arab baths were restored to return them to their original appearance.
To stroll through the old town centre of Besalú is to automatically take a trip to the Middle Ages. The current layout of the town doesn’t correspond faithfully to its original state but, to a large extent, it does allow one to read the urban development of the middle ages with the important buildings present: the Church of the Monastery of Sant Pere of Besalú, the old pilgrims' hospital, the Casa Cornellà, the Church of Sant Vicenç or the Gothic Hall of la Cúria Reial palace. In the ‘Call’, the Jewish quarter, the main attraction is the Mikvah, one of the few remaining Jewish ritual baths and one of the best views of the river Fluvià.
But, without doubt, the symbol of the city is the Pont Vell the ‘Old Bridge’ of Besalú: a construction that is notable both for its dimensions and its appearance forming a right angle over the river. The oldest document in which the bridge is mentioned is from 1075, the likely date of its original construction. But the floods, the river surges and the defensive needs of the city made its reconstruction necessary in the 14th century, and it remained standing until the Civil War. The appearance of the current bridge is a reconstruction from the early 1960s.
The monumental importance of Besalú comes mainly from the great value of the whole complex, from its unity which makes it one of the most important and unique samples of medieval complexes in Catalonia.
To visit the ducal town of Montblanc is to make a tour of an open-air museum. The city was noted as an important trading centre during the middle ages and reached its highest point with the creation of the Duchy of Montblanc in 1387. This success is reflected in the wealth of monuments in the town.
In the 14th century, Montblanc enjoyed its time in the sun: it was the seventh largest city in Catalonia thanks to its political and economic weight. Proof of this was the holding of the Corts Generals the Spanish parliament, in the town four times and the creation of the Duchy. At this time the most emblematic works of Montblanc were begun, starting with its walled enclosure. Formed by an imposing set of towers, portals and ramparts crowned with battlements, the walls were taken advantage of throughout the modern age to build homes. It was not until the 20th century that the walls were restored and the additional buildings removed.
The Gothic church of Santa Maria, also known as the Cathedral of the Mountain due to its large size and its location at the top of a promontory, is another testimony to the medieval power of Montblanc. In the interior there is the altarpiece of Sant Bernat and Sant Bernabé, in polychrome stone from the 14th-century, which shows beautifully carved scenes from the life of the Saints.
For its part, the church-hospital of Sant Marçal is notable for the mural painting of Sant Cristòfol (15th century) and a Gothic sculpted window. The Alenyà Palace is the last major work which reflects the prosperous past of Montblanc; it is a Gothic-style building with a large main, round-arched portal and slender windows. The building, however, has been much modified over the years and is currently the headquarters of the Consell Comarcal de la Conca de Barberà (the County Council of Conca de Barberà).
Girona has many testimonies to its medieval past, a period of growth in which it became the second largest city in Catalonia with a population of 10,000 inhabitants (15th century). The old Roman walled town remained small and the city spread out on both sides of the Onyar.
Among the monumental heritage that reflects this growth is the Cathedral (11th – 18th century) which, with its large vaulted nave, is the widest vaulted Gothic space in the world. However, the first cathedral in Girona was the Basilica of Sant Feliu, which is currently one of the most representative Gothic buildings of the city, especially its slender bell tower (14th -16th century). Inside it preserves remarkable works of art, such as the eight pagan and Early-Christian sarcophagi (4th century) and the Recumbent Christ (14th century) by Master Aloi.
With regard to the monastery of Sant Daniel it is located in a wide green area close to the city and currently houses a community of Benedictine nuns. The Church contains the tomb of the Saint and the cloister is a beautiful example of Romanesque construction with Gothic additions.
Two kilometres along the River Galligants, stands another monastery: Sant Pere de Galligants, currently the Girona headquarters of the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archaeological Museum of Catalonia). An example of Catalan Romanesque architecture, it is noted for the iconography of the capitals in the central nave and cloister.
Close to Sant Pere de Galligants are the Arab baths, public baths that also bear witness to the demographic growth and development of medieval Girona. They follow the model of the Roman baths, the Islamic baths and the Jewish mikvahs.
However, one of the greatest symbols of medieval Girona is the Call. Its formation began in the 12th century, starting from the Carrer de la Força, when Jewish families, who had previously lived around the Cathedral, were settled there. Major thinkers, such as the poet-philosopher, doctor and exegete Mosse ben Nahman, better known as Bonastruc ça Porta or Nahmanides, lived here. Up to 800 people came to live in the Girona Call and today it is one of the busiest areas of the city.
