Noucentisme

The great specialist in agroindustrial construction in Catalonia, Cèsar Martinell, made his "debut" in Rocafort de Queralt in 1918. The final result, full of innovations and architectural daring, was a great platform for his career.

The winery of Roquefort that we see today is the result of three projects carried out between 1918 and 1947. During the first years, it consisted of a building with two parallel areas and a perpendicular third area which was used as an unloading bay and machine room. Later this was enlarged with two more areas, the modernisation of the machine room, and a new water tank to replace the original.

But without doubt, the most decisive contribution was the use, for the first time, of the Gaudinian parabolic arch as the main support of the structure of the building. The original idea was to have the traditional wooden roof truss as a support for the gabled roof, but the economic circumstances of the time led the architect to change his idea: with the First World War, the price of wood had multiplied five times.

With regard to the "aesthetic" aspect of the winery, the tiling work used in the arches of the doors and windows is particularly outstanding as is the ceramic tiled frieze that runs along the cornice of the building. The main façade of the winery is perfectly symmetrical and highlights the huge window made up of three elements, with rampant arches and round arches. The door consists of a round voussoired arch which, in its time, was the support for the large window. This composition is repeated on the facade of the three areas.

This has to be one of the most beautiful works by the architect Cèsar Martinell. The winery of the Agricultural Union of Saint Isidre of Nulles, on the outskirts of the town, was the third commission in just one year for the most celebrated of the Catalan agricultural architects. With certain lines that remind us of Gothic art, the architecture of the Nulles winery is refined, monumental and elegant.

The structure of the building is slightly different from Martinell's previous works; the construction of Nulles comprises two areas measuring 21 by 18 metres without a separating wall between them. A slender, durable and lightweight "skeleton" that gives the feeling of vastness and allows one to create an open and orderly space. The winery has yet another space, a transversal nave with a simpler structure, based on metal trusses and a sheet metal roof.

The monumentality of the façade fully justifies the name of "wine cathedral". The double basilica area can clearly be seen thanks to its two identical, symmetrical fronts. It has a solid base of stone that runs along longitudinally, broken only by the two doors of each area. The portals outline a parabolic arch and protrude slightly to support the large windows situated above them (also parabolic arches and brickwork). The façade shows off the vertical brickwork pilasters, from the wall front up to the roof where the stepped finish form a symmetrical slope on both sides;  the blind arches and original corners of the façade made from brick pillars forming low relief are also outstanding.

Located in an area with a certain unevenness, topography that was favoured by Martinell for making the best use of space, the winery of Falset was built in 1919.

In this building, that evokes the shapes of a castle, we find one of the characteristics that define Modernista architecture and which continued to be used by the disciples of Gaudí and Domènech i Montaner: the recovery and free interpretation of Catalan medieval architectural forms.

The winery consists of two perpendicular buildings, responding to the division of working spaces: the unloading bay and the machine rooms are in the smallest building, and the vats and presses are in the larger one.

But the difference in Falset is the absence of the parabolic arc. The sloping roof is supported by the classic wooden roof trusses which, in turn, rest on brick pillars together with side arches. On the central structure of the winery of Falset we can see 9 highly stylised vertical windows crowned with a large relieving arch which stands on four brick pilasters that reach the ground. Of the three gateways to the winery, the main one forms a round voussoir arch in the medieval style.

On both sides stand two square plan towers, with large vertical openings and corners finished with brickwork, which contrasts with the white of the rest of the wall and creates a beautiful balance of lines and colours. The last element worth noting is the water tank. Functional and artistic, the tank at the winery of Falset is circular and is supported by two crossed parabolic arches and four pilasters that surround it, all constructed in brickwork.

The cooperative winery of Espluga de Francolí was the first of its kind to be commissioned by a renowned architect. Pere Domènech i Roura, son of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, initiated the construction of the "signature wineries" or "wineries of the rich" with the design and direction of the works. Subsequently, Cèsar Martinell also worked at the Espluga Winery.  Erected in 1913, it was the first Modernista cooperative winery of Catalonia and of the rest of the Spanish State. Today, this centre, a pioneer of the most artistic and innovative the cooperative system houses the facilities of the Wine Museum.

The layout of the winery is similar to that of other contemporary buildings, comprising: three rectangular, parallel areas, individualised two-sided roofs and another nave placed at right angles to the others. In the structure of the winery we find all the Modernista genius. Pere Domènech designed a system of pillars in a cross that became ogival arches which make the role of the transverse and side arches of an area (solutions previously employed in medieval architecture). The areas, 44 by 12 metres, housed a total of 40, reinforced cement vats each with a capacity of 340 hectolitres, and several underground presses. The perpendicular area was slightly smaller (13 by 8 metres) and housed the entrance bay and machine room (with the latest presses of the time). As an annex to this nave, the winery also had a laboratory in order to control the production process more effectively.

The facade is equal for the three main areas. Historians talk about elements that recall the most genuine Catalan architecture: ogival arcades with small windows, brick pillars arranged vertically, triangular crowns and galleries of blind arches reminiscent of Lombard Romanesque. The materials used for the façade were crushed stone, rendering and brickwork. Another "aesthetic" element is the water tank. Located next to the unloading bay, it is a circular brick tower crowned by a conical roof decorated with classic Modernista mosaic.

In 1915, the winery of Espluga de Francolí occupied 1,311 square metres and had 160 members. Cèsar Martinell made an extension in 1929 by adding another area. In 1990 it was renovated and restored and, finally, in 1998 the Wine Museum was opened.

The cultural life of Cervera has a hero: the historian, archivist and archaeologist Augustine Duran i Sanpere. Towards the end of the 1950s, he set up the Museum of Cervera and, in 1963, in the midst of an agricultural transformation, he created the Museu del Blat i la Pagesia (Wheat and Farming Museum) to document the life and work before the industrialisation of the Catalan fields.

The present Museu Comarcal de Cervera (Regional Museum of Cervera) is, in some ways, the legacy of this great man of culture. It is the sum of the old Museum of Cervera, the Wheat and Farming Museum and, finally, the Casa Museu Duran i Sanpere (Duran i Sanpere House Museum), the birthplace of the historian.

And this ancestral home is where the headquarters of the Museum is based. On the ground floor you can see the permanent exhibitions that showcase the artistic and historical collections of the old Museum of Cervera. You also take in the first floor and discover how a wealthy family lived in the 19th century. Much of the furniture and household objects have been retained, including the library of Agustín Duran i Sanpere, and his collection of still and film cameras.

The other site is the Wheat and Farming Museum, of an ethnographic character. It grew out of the call of Duran i Sanpere to the farmers of the region to try to bring together all those objects of the field that had fallen into disuse. It was created with a collection of more than 600 objects. Currently the museum is undergoing refurbishment.

Catalonia, overcoming the phylloxera crisis, was seeking new ways of organising the economic and social interests in the field of agriculture. Thus, the beginning of the 20th century saw the birth of agricultural co-operativism and associationism and, alongside this, the construction of modern and functional wineries that responded to the fashionable aesthetic (the late-Modernisme and Noucentisme).

In 1919, the Sindicat de Cooperació Agrària de Gandesa (Gandesa Union of Agricultural Cooperation), commissioned the architect Cèsar Martinell, who had already designed other "wine cathedrals" such as that at Pinell de Brai, to design its cooperative winery and oil mill. Although the building incorporated all the latest techniques and the division of space usually found in the work of Martinell, this construction is one of the most original of his agricultural works.

Its principal uniqueness is in not adopting the basilical floor plan. It is formed by a main body divided into three parallel naves of different heights, and two further naves placed transversally.

Nor were wooden crossbeams chosen for the support, since this material had become expensive following the First World War. As an alternative, Martinell designed a roof using a four-pointed Catalan vault which allowed small triangular openings to be created, strongly resembling the undulating structure of the Aymerich factory in Terrassa.

On the exterior, there is no main façade, but rather each side is treated in the same way. It is presided over by two water tanks, which rise as small and stylised towers. As a decorative element, we find glazed, green tiles which contrast with the Mediterranean white of the walls.

El castell-monestir d'Escornalbou a Riudecanyes és una peculiar mansió senyorial de principis del segle XX. Es va formar a partir de les restes de dos edificis medievals: el Monestir de Sant Miquel , fundat el 1153; i un castell , construït sobre les restes d'una fortalesa romana. El seu propietari, el diplomàtic, egiptòleg i filantrop Eduard Toda, va seguir la moda de l’època per convertir els edificis històrics en residències burgeses.
 
Durant més de sis segles, el complex va constituir la Baronia d'Escornalbou. Després de les desamortitzacions de Mendizábal (1835) va estar gairebé en ruïnes, fins a adquirir Toda el 1911. La restauració seguí una interpretació molt personal. Toda fins i tot va decidir ignorar les recomanacions i consells de Puig i Cadafalch. Així, es van enderrocar edificis, es van aixecar torres d’estil exòtic i medieval i es van convertir zones per satisfer les necessitats i gustos del propietari.
 
Els resultats encara són visibles avui: de l’ antic monestir , només es conserven l’església romànica, algunes restes de la Casa Capitular i l’estructura del claustre, que esdevingué un punt d’observació / jardí amb vistes al Camp de Tarragona. El castell va ser convertit en una casa senyorial i escenari de reunions de les figures més importants de la Renaixença catalana. Destaquen la biblioteca i la rica col·lecció d’estampes, ceràmiques, mobles i peces de la col·lecció que Toda havia recuperat dels seus viatges.

L’antiga Casa Pedrós, al centre de Castellterçol, és on va néixer i morir una de les figures clau del segle XX a Catalunya: Enric Prat de la Riba . Convertit en museu, ens apropa a la figura fundacional de la Lliga Regionalista, el primer president de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya i un dels principals teòrics del nacionalisme català.

Acompanyat d’una exhibició audiovisual, podem seguir la seva carrera professional i la ideologia del polític i escriptor. Al mateix temps, ens endinsem en el seu àmbit més personal, ja que l’arquitectura i els mobles són originals de la casa. Així, podem descobrir com era la vida en una casa de camp ben feta a principis del segle XX.

A excepció de l’oficina, que conté els mobles que Prat de la Riba tenia a Barcelona, ​​la resta de la casa es conserva intacta. Destaquen la cuina, el centre de la vida familiar i el menjador, reservat per a ocasions especials. La religiositat de la família es reflecteix en la presència d’imatges religioses a la majoria d’habitacions, particularment a les habitacions.

The politician and writer Victor Balaguer, as a man of the Catalan Renaixença, was convinced that culture was the basis for the people’s progress. For this reason, in 1884, he commissioned the first public building in the country intended to function both as a museum and a library, to be built at Vilanova i la Geltrú, and in which to make his art, book and ethnographic collections available to the public.

Currently, the Museum has a collection of more than 8,000 items that include an archaeological and ethnographic collection donated by some illustrious friends of Víctor Balaguer. The highlight being the mummy of a child from ancient Egypt, popularly known as Nesi.

As regards to the art exhibits, part of the original collection can be seen in the Pinacoteca (art gallery) room which recreates the atmosphere of the Fine Arts salons of the 19th century. Pictures by Marià Fortuny, Ramon Martí Alsina, Joaquim Vayreda and Joaquin Sorolla show the bourgeois tastes of the time. Complementing this room are the works by El Greco, Ribera, and Rubens, donated at the beginning by the Prado Museum.

The tour continues through Modernisme, Post-modernisme and Noucentisme with small-format works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Anglada Camarasa, Francesc Domingo and Xavier Nogués. It also has the most comprehensive collection of informalist art in Catalonia that comes from the first Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.

As for the bibliographic collection, it is one of the richest of the 19th century in Catalonia, with more than 50,000 books and a total of 100,000 documents. Among these are the collected letters of Víctor Balaguer.