Museum

The gabella was an old tax levied was on certain essential goods and, by extension, was also used to designate the warehouses where these products were kept. The Gabella is exactly what the 18th-century farmhouse, in the centre of Arbúcies, was called and where you will find the Museu Etnològic del Montseny (Ethnological Museum of Montseny, MEMGA) in the Gabella, a name that already marks an historical past linked to the people and the region. And thus MEMGA, opened in 1985, is dedicated to the preservation, dissemination, research and presentation of the cultural heritage of the Montseny massif.

The visit to the museum encompasses three separate areas. The ground floor is devoted to the first settlers and shows the evolution of the way of life in Montseny: the prehistorical, the world of the Iberians, Romanisation and the Middle Ages. The visitor takes a journey through history where representative objects (some original, some reproductions) are found. A room is dedicated to the Castle of Montsoriu (14th century) with a selection of materials recovered during the archaeological excavations. A large model of the fortress dominates the space.

The first floor focuses on the traditional self-sufficient society, which was based on the agriculture, livestock farming and forestry. It was structured around farms, which were the economic pillar of the 19th century Montseny up until the industrial revolution. Indeed, the top floor of the Museum is dedicated to the changes that the arrival of industry brought to the region. Notable among the collections of the Museum are the displays of artisanal crafts and the beginnings of industrialisation.

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.

The Llopis family were dedicated to the cultivation of vineyards. In fact, the winery produced the Malvasia Llopis, a sweet wine characteristic of the town of Sitges. The last member of the family, the diplomat Manuel Llopis i Casades, bequeathed the family home to the Government of Catalonia, together with the furniture and other objects, for the purpose of setting up a museum dedicated to Romanticism. And thus the Can Llopis Romantic Museum opened its doors in 1949.

The building is a house built at the end of the 18th century in the sober and elegant neoclassical style. The interior reflects how a bourgeois family lived in the 19th century, evolving from the aristocratic tastes at the beginning of the century to the splendour of the romanticism. This evolution also can be seen in details such as the lighting, which combines candle chandeliers with gas lighting.

The Museum has a series of dioramas which illustrate daily life and the popular traditions of the 19th century. It also houses the collection of dolls and toys of the artist Lola Anglada, made up of more than 400 pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. Before leaving, visitors can’t miss seeing the carriage with seating for up to 14 people and the collection of velocipedes.

What was the process of industrialisation like around the Ter River, one of the axes of the Industrial Revolution in Catalonia? How did the landscape and human activity coexist? The Museu del Ter, or Museum of the Ter, which forms part of the Territorial System of the mNACTEC (Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia), was created in Manlleu in 2004 specifically to promote the industrial and natural heritage of the central basin of the river Ter.

The Museum of the Ter is based at Can Sanglas, a former cotton spinning factory, located in the last section of the industrial canal of Manlleu. It dates from 1841 and is one of the oldest examples of the factories that were set up on the banks of the canal to take advantage of the hydraulic power.

Thanks to the first of the permanent exhibitions, The River Factory, Can Sanglas looks back at its period of industrial activity. This exhibition highlights the historical aspects of the industrialisation process of the central section of the Ter: from manufacturing jobs to mechanisation. Several experimental machines help to understand how the process of transforming cotton thread has evolved historically.

During the tour we find ourselves in the two power rooms that Can Sanglas had in order to take advantage of the hydraulic energy: the Francis turbine, which allows one to see how electricity is generated; and the Fontaine turbine, one of the first hydraulic motors installed on the Ter.  You can even see how the mechanical system operated the spinning machines!
This first section of the route connects with the second of the permanent exhibitions, The Industrial Society, which explains all the social changes caused by industrialisation.

Finally, the exhibition The Mediterranean Rivers takes a journey through the landscapes, hydrology, ecology, the natural heritage, the socio-environmental aspects and the sustainable management of Mediterranean fluvial courses. And the Ter Museum also houses the Centre d’Estudis dels Rius Mediterranis (Centre for the Study of Mediterranean Rivers, CERM) dedicated to environmental education and awareness-raising.

The Museu del Suro (Cork Museum), situated in Palafrugell, interprets and promotes the heritage that surrounds the world of cork in Catalonia, both before and after the industrial revolution.

Beyond its importance from an industrial point of view (the manufacture of cork and corks was consolidated during the 19th century and had a major impact on the Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà regions), the museum highlights aspects such as the shaping of a landscape, a way of life and an identity around this product. The centre explains the process of both artisanal and industrial cork production, from the ecological environment, the bark of the cork,  transportation, manufacture of bottle corks and their marketing.

The former Can Mario factory, symbol of the power of the Catalan cork sector, is currently the headquarters of the Museum. With ashlar walls with brick decoration, enamelled ceramics and wrought iron, this modernista style building is home to the permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, the workshops and an auditorium with the capacity for a hundred people.

The town of Gerri, in the Pallars region, cannot be understood without reference to what had been its economic driving force since the Middle Ages, salt. The salt basins, historically the most important there has ever been in Catalonia, give a characteristic appearance to the town, which is completed with the Reial Alfolí (Royal Salt Storehouse) or House of Salt and the monastery of Santa Maria, one of the jewels of the Romanesque to be preserved in the Pyrenees.

The storehouse and the salt basins are the two basic structures used from the middle ages to extract and treat salt in Gerri. On one side of the Noguera Pallaresa river, between the river and the town, the salt basins are irregularly shaped structures, with walls made of differently sized stone and covered with mud. The water that comes from a salt water spring close to the village is fed along here. Once it reaches these basins, one only has to wait for the heat to evaporate the water (a process also known as "Ofita mining") and collect the salt deposited on flat surfaces of stone framed with wooden planks.

The alfolí, or storehouse, was where this precious substance was stored, a rectangular building with three levels that currently houses the exhibits explaining the whole of the industrial process. Located in Plaça Major in Gerri, this is the largest civil building in terms of floor space in the whole of the Pallars region.

Though salt production continued well into the 20th century, currently the alfolí and the salt basins allow the visitor to find out about the process of production, processing, storage and marketing of the white gold, salt.

The Farga Palau (Palace Forge) in Ripoll, first documented in 1626 and in operation until 1978, is a valuable testimony to one of our country’s historical industries: the Catalan forge. Located on the banks of the river Freser, you can see the restored structure which had remained in operation over the course of four centuries.

The forge occupies the ground floor where the water trompes (water-powered compressors), the trip hammers (unique in being made with metal bearings, an elm handle and steel mallet), the coal bunker, the kiln, where the ore is reduced, and the forge itself. The industrial part is completed outside with the water wheel, the channel and the pool. All of these are the essential elements of the Catalan forge or «Catalan process»; a type of forging that enabled the manufacturing of a high-quality product.

Ripoll was the metallurgical centre of Catalonia, thanks to the manufacture of the two most prestigious products of the Catalan forge: portable firearms and keys.

With the introduction of new industrial techniques, many iron forges became obsolete and, in order to survive, devoted themselves to working copper. This was the case with the Farga Palau, the only one in Catalonia which produced copper coins up until the second half of the 20th century. The forge closed definitively in 1978 and in 1997 it was incorporated into the Territorial System of the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC) as a separate section.

When the ‘clos de la Torre’ in Badalona was developed in 1954, an exceptional discovery was found: the remains of the baths of the Roman town of Baetulo in an excellent state of conservation. In order to preserve the remains, the Museum of Badalona was built over the top of them. It was opened in 1966.

Since its refurbishment in 2010, going down to the basement of the Museum of Badalona gives access to a 3,400 m2 site with the remains of the Roman city. In addition to the baths, the remains of the cardo maximus and the decumanus maximus (with the corresponding drains), various shops (tabernae) and three housing complexes (insulae) can be seen. This is one of the most important and well preserved archaeological sites from the Roman era in Catalonia.

The permanent exhibition of the Museum tells the story of the first settlements witnessed in Badalona - prehistoric, iron age and Iberian - but it is the exhibits relating to Baetulo which stand out, among which are the hinge-posts of the city gate, the Vas de les Naus (Ship Vase) and the portrait of Agrippina.

The collection features an epigraphic document of great value, the Tabula Hospitalis, a bronze tablet that records a hospitality agreement from 98 AD between the baetulonenses and Quintus Licinius Silvanus Granianus, governor of the city. Another jewel of the exhibition is the Venus of Badalona, one of the most important representations of the female form in Catalonia. These pieces were returned to Badalona in 1980, having been looted during the Civil War.

Apart from the main building, the Museum has various extension sites: the Roman archaeological sites of the Casa dels Dofins and the Garden of Quintus Licinius, the Turó d'en Boscà (a walled Iberian settlement), and the Can Miravitges estate (an 18th century agricultural manor house).

The roar of the water, the smells, the noise of carts and workers were, from the end of the 18th century, a constant presence on the banks of the Rec d’Igualada (irrigation channel). And it is here that new tanneries began to be built. The Leather Museum of Igualada and the County of Anoia recalls this industrial past of the city, linked to leather and also to the manufacture of wool. Conceived in 1954, it is one of the first monographic leather museums in Europe. It also forms part of the Territorial system of the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC).

The two buildings that make up the Museum, the industrial evolution of the Rec area is summarised. The main location is in the Cal Boyer cotton factory, an example of strong industrial growth at the end of the 19th century. The other, Cal Granotes, a pre-industrial building (18th century) where traditional vegetable tanning of the leather, particularly of ox and cow, was carried out. It is currently the only tannery museum in Catalonia.

The permanent exhibition is divided into different areas. Particularly notable is the room “L’Home i l’Aigua” (Man and Water) which addresses topics such the role water plays in health, the economic uses of water and the elevation of the water and its transport. It is an innovative museum space where, in the central section, the visitor will find a water channel where they can experiment with various hydraulic devices.

In the room "Dels clots als bombos" (From the pits to the drums) the historical development of the tannery trade is explained: from how the leather was tanned in 1890 (making the connection to Cal Granotes) to the tanning barrels and other machinery that is now  powered by electricity.

The town of Cercs, in Berguedà, forms part of the most important mining centre in Catalonia, particularly from the modern mining of brown lignite coal in the late 19th century. To ensure stable labour in such an isolated place, a colony was built with housing and basic services for the miners, following the example of the textile colonies in the region.

Since 1999, the colony of Sant Corneli has been home to Cercs Mines Museum, which explains what the mining activity in the area was like over many years, from a geological, landscape, social and economic point of view. The Museum belongs to the Territorial system of the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC).

The main building of the Museum is the old school of the colony, which was converted in 1931 to the "Hogar del Minero" (Home of the Miner) dedicated to services for workers (café, library, barbershop, cinema, games room, etc.). Here you can see the permanent exhibition that explains what coal mining and the mining infrastructure was like. A significant part is devoted to daily life in the colony and to the working conditions of the miners. Two audiovisual displays describe their most emblematic protests and you can also visit a miner’s house.

In 2012, "The spectacle of the mine: emotions and sensations" was included as part of the exhibition which delves into the world of mining through a immersive museum experience using new technologies.

Finally, a guided tour of the interior of the mine transports the visitor to other periods and you can travel along the first 450 metres of a 7 km long gallery in a wagon.