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.
The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) is organised around its 6 regional centres (Barcelona, CASC, Empúries, Girona, Olèrdola and Ullastret). Of them all, Barcelona is the centre that offers a more cross-cutting view because it explains the social, technological, economic, and religious developments from early man up to the middle ages in Catalonia and the Mediterranean.
Located in the former Pavelló d'Arts Gràfiques, (Graphic Arts Pavilion), built for the 1929 Universal Exposition of Barcelona, the MAC Barcelona renovated 11 rooms between 2010 and 2013. The permanent exhibition, consisting of more than one million original pieces, takes the visitor on a journey through pre-history, protohistory, the Greek and Phoenician colonisation and the establishment of the Roman Empire.
To accompany the visitor, there are learning resources, pictures, scenery and also audiovisual pieces such as the funeral rituals of prehistoric times compared with those of today.
One of the most emblematic pieces of the museum is the statue of the Roman God Aesculapius, now a reproduction because the original was moved to the Empúries centre in 2008. Other notable exhibits include the Paleolithic materials, the 53,200 year-old Neanderthal jaw from Sitges, the Iberian treasure of Tivissa, the Phoenician votive figures, Greek ceramics and the Roman statue found in the street Carrer Paradís, and considered to be the highest quality sculpture recovered from ancient Barcino, the Roman name for Barcelona.
Integrated into the Regional Network of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya, the Ecomuseu-Farinera at Castelló d'Empúries has, from 2004, explained the story of the men and women of the region dedicated to the cultivation of the wheat grain and the various uses of the flour.
The building of la Farinera offers a tour of the Catalan industrial flour heritage. The machines, tools and structures exhibited are testimony of an activity that has developed since medieval times: first in the old flour mill, and from the end of the 19th century to 2001, at the modern flour mill factory.
The visit to the Ecomuseum is completed with a route that follows, up to the Pont de la Mercè, part of the five kilometres of the Rec del Molí (mill irrigation channel). This hydraulic infrastructure drove water from the weir at Vilanova de la Muga to the flour mill, skirting around and supplying the orchards and fields. Upon arrival at the flour mill, the water turned a Francis turbine from 1905, which was responsible for generating the energy necessary for the operation of the factory.
The historical and monumental importance of the old Tarraco is reflected in the current Museu de Tarraco (Museum of Tarraco, MNAT), a reference centre for learning about life in this period. Formed during the first half of the 19th century, the MNAT is the oldest Museum in Catalonia within its field and its extensive collection masterfully illustrates the process of Romanisation of the Iberian Peninsula.
Located in a new building since 1960 in which a fragment of the wall has been preserved in situ underground. Among the most outstanding pieces recovered from ancient Tarraco, you can see part of a medallion (clipeus) with the representation of Jupiter-Ammon, the altar dedicated to the Numen of Augustuses (the divine power), a pedestal of a statue with an inscription dedicated to the genius of the Colonia of Tarraco, the statues of Bacchus, Hercules, Claudius and Minerva, the portrait of Nero Julius Caesar and the sarcophagi of the Lion and the Pedagogue.
Meriting their own chapter are the high-quality mosaics which are preserved in the Museum, such as the head of the Medusa -the best of those found in Tarraco- from the residential area of the city; one representing Euterpe, Muse of music, discovered in the Roman villa of Els Munts (Altafulla); the tombstone of Optimus, mosaic with inscription, found in the Early-Christian Necropolis in Tarragona; and the mosaic of the Fish which decorated a room of the Roman villa of Callípolis, in the municipality of Vila-seca.
Among the most extraordinary pieces at MNAT, is an articulated ivory doll found in the sarcophagus of a girl in the Necropolis of Tarraco and the bronze lamp decorated with a representation of a theatrical mask from the Roman villa of la Llosa.
In addition to the Archaeological Museum, MNAT manages the Necropolis of Tarraco, the Roman villa of Els Munts (Altafulla) and the Roman Complex of Centcelles (Constantí). It also includes the famous monuments of the Arch of Berà and the Tower of the Scipios – situated on the Via Augusta – as well as the Roman Theatre in the city. A complex of the highest order which has been a World Heritage Site since 2000 and which takes the visitor closer to a fundamental period in European history.
Right next to the Llobregat river, almost in touching distance of the town of Esparreguera, is one of the main witnesses to the industrial history of Catalonia: la Colònia Sedó. The large 1,400 CV turbine is one of the biggest attractions of the site, a cast iron machine which was the largest and most powerful in Spain and one of the most spectacular in Europe. Nowadays, water no longer drives it, but it has been converted into the Museum which houses the history of the colony.
In the former engine room you can see the model of the colony, where its story is told through a montage of light and sound, and a three-dimensional audiovisual is projected inside the turbine’s water pipe. The visit is rounded off with an explanation of the energy system that powered the industrial complex of Miquel Puig. The walk around the colony allows you to understand the social life and the production process of a 'small town' where the looms lived alongside the workers.
The Colònia Sedó industrial complex was founded in 1846, taking advantage of the waterfall of the old mill of Can Broquetes. Currently you can still see the halls dedicated to spinning the cotton, the canal and the lock of the waterfall, the roofs with their Catalan vault and the offices. Two of the defining features of the complex are the helical brick chimney of the old steam engine and the semicircular aqueduct that carried water from the river to the turbine.
In the midst of the woods of Castellar de N’Hug (Berguedà), the industrialist Eusebi Güell built the Asland factory, the first in Spain to produce portland cement, faster and more resilient than the conglomerates that had been used until then. This is an impressive modernista, building which, in its time, was a symbol of modernity and which today continues to amaze the visitors who come there.
The factory, owned by the Companyia General d’Asfalts i Pòrtland Asland, came into operation in 1904. The building was designed by the architect Rafael Guastavino, who built it in tiers to take advantage of the power of the waterfalls of the river Llobregat.
Due to the low temperatures in the area, the construction had to protect the whole space occupied by the machinery. To do this, an innovative architectural solution was chosen: the Catalan vault, flat brick vaults that were supported on a metal structure. The vault is what gives the façade of the factory its uniqueness.
Later, Rafael Guastavino exported this traditional technique to the United States, where he patented the Guastavino system. This system of self-supporting vaults with tiles and layers of mortar made a fortune and left its mark on architectural icons such as Grand Central Station, Carnegie Hall and the American Museum of Natural history, among others.
The industrial complex of Castellar de N'Hug operated until 1975, but in 2002 it reopened, becoming the Museu del Ciment, (Cement Museum), a space that allowed the history of the construction in our country to be reviewed. The museum, consisting of an interpretation centre and an external route that takes in the ruins of the factory, is affiliated to the Museu de la Ciència i la Tècnica de Catalunya (Museum of Science and Industry of Catalonia). With the visit, the importance of the complex at a time of strong growth of the industrial society is put into context.
The Girona Art Museum, founded in 1976, could not have chosen a better setting than the Episcopal Palace, from the 12th and 16th centuries, to host its collection. The museum has the third most important collection of Romanesque and Gothic art in Catalonia. The jewel in the crown is the portable altar from the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, made of stone and wood covered with silver.
Notable also from the medieval collection is the polychrome Romanesque beam from the Monastery of Sant Miquel de Cruïlles, one of the few preserved in Europe. Or the Virgin of Besalú, considered one of the best Gothic examples of its kind. Names such as Bernat Martorell and Lluís Borrassà also have presence there.
But the art collection of the Girona Art Museum goes beyond the Middle Ages. It consists of 8,500 objects that span from the Greek colonies up to the twentieth century.Specifically, this last period also has a presence in the Museum with works by Joaquim Vayreda, Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Martí i Alsina.
