In the 18th century, the population of the town grew rapidly to become the second largest city in Catalonia as the result of the brandy trade, for which it was an international reference point, as evidenced by the famous joke-phrase of an alleged “Reus, París i Londres (London)” axis. It was shortly after this, around the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, that the great Modernista buildings, which you can still see today and which make Reus a veritable Modernista stage, were erected.

Reus Address Gaudí Centre and Oficina de Turisme Pl. Mercadal, 3 43201 Reus Opening hours and visits Gaudí Centre The Gaudí Centre is a new interpretation centre enabling the public of all ages to understand in an entertaining way the keys to Gaudí’s architecture, discover how his creative genius was formed and get to know the city and the environment that inspired him. Through a wide variety of resources (audiovisuals, interactive sensory models, sets, documents and personal objects) the public is introduced to Gaudí’s private world in an educational and participatory way, opening up the senses and the mind to new experiences. The Gaudí Centre also has a restaurant, a shop and a tourist office. It can be visited with an audio guide (available in Catalan, Spanish, French and English). Opening hours: From October to June: Monday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Sundays and public holidays: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July, August and September Monday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays and public holidays: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. * 29/06 and 25/09 are public holidays in Reus * The Centre is closed on 01/01, 06/01, 25/12 and 26/12.   Reus Modernisme Route Tour of Casa Navàs and Institut Pere Mata. You must book in advance. Consult the Routes’ prices and times by telephoning the Tourist Office on (+34) 977 010 670 Information Gaudí Centre Tel.: (+34) 977 010 670, infoturisme@reus.cat; www.gaudicentre.com Tourist Office Tel.: (+34) 977 010 670, infoturisme@reus.cat; www.reus.net/turisme Getting there By train: RENFE from Sants and Passeig de Gràcia stations. By bus: La Hispano Igualadina company (tel.: 938 044 451), leaving from Ronda Universitat. By car: road N-340 or highway AP-7 (exit no. 34). Per carretera: N-340 o autopista AP-7 sortida 34. Further details The guided visit is a walking tour to see the façades of the main Modernista buildings and includes access to the interior of Casa Gasull, the garden of Casa Rull and the shop of Casa Navàs, all by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Then a bus ride takes you to Hospital Pere Mata where you visit pavillion 6. Also by Domènech, the decorative richness of this hospital is especially noteworthy in this pavillion. Entrance to Casa Navàs depends on the owners’ availability:it is an optional visit not included in the ticket. Prices and discounts Gaudí Centre Children aged 0 to 6 years: free Adults: €6.00 Children aged 7 to 14 and pensioners: €4.00 Modernisme Route discount: 2 for 1 on the ticket to the Gaudí Centre. Description Reus, a Modernista stage Reus, Gaudí’s city, 100 kilometres from Barcelona and eight from the Costa Daurada, is today a major commercial and cultural hub of the south of Catalonia. In the 18th century, the population of the town grew rapidly to become the second largest city in Catalonia as the result of the brandy trade, for which it was an international reference point, as evidenced by the famous joke-phrase of an alleged “Reus, París i Londres (London)” axis. It was shortly after this, around the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, that the great Modernista buildings, which you can still see today and which make Reus a veritable Modernista stage, were erected. The universally famous architect Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was born in Reus on 25th June 1852. It was in this city that the future architect lived as a child and teenager, made friends and went to school before moving to Barcelona. Some of his closest collaborators, such as the architects Joan Rubió i Bellvé, Domènec Sugranyes and Francesc Berenguer, and several of his future clients also came from the Reus area. The city still retains the memory of the places the young Gaudí frequented during the time he lived in the town: the house where he was born, the church where he was baptised, the school he went to, the places where he used to meet his friends and collaborators. In short, the streets, squares, places and landscapes of the city that shaped the education of its great creative genius. We suggest you also visit the “Gaudí & Reus” exhibition at the Museu Salvador Vilaseca which takes you through the origins of Gaudí and his family and introduces you to some of the most significant aspects of his personality and his way of understanding the world and architecture. But it was the arrival of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the other great architect of the era, that marked the start of the brilliant Modernista period in Reus when he began the plans to build the Pere Mata Psychiatric Institute in 1898. This was followed by other commissions and it was in Reus that Lluís Domènech i Montaner constructed more buildings than anywhere else apart from Barcelona. Of these, the most important are: Pere Mata Institute (1898) An innovative construction project involving an interesting combination of materials featuring brick, stone, wrought iron, ceramic and stained glass, and an innovative approach to patient care, in which the architect used a system of independent pavilions, something he repeated later on at the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. Pavilion number six, with its rich ornamentation, is the most valuable from an artistic point of view, as it retains its spectacular original Modernista decorative repertoire. The Pere Mata Institute, whose interior you can visit, is regarded as one of the jewels of Catalan Modernisme. Casa Navàs (1901-1907) Together with the Pere Mata Institute, this is the best example of the city’s architecture. It was commissioned by Joaquim Navàs, a local merchant. The beautiful façade, with different architectural and decorative elements inspired by Gothic and Plateresque, was damaged by a bomb during the Civil War, but the interior still keeps its magnificent decoration. The shop on the ground floor of the building is also very interesting, as the construction has survived virtually intact, and you can look round inside it. Casa Rull (1900) This house was designed for Pere Rull, a notary, and you can recognise various symbols on the façade to do with the original owner’s profession. Of special note are the angle formed by the two main façades and the elegant balcony with floral elements on the first floor. You can also visit the garden of this house. Casa Gasull (1911) This house was built for Fèlix Gasull, the owner of an oil-exporting firm, and contained the company’s warehouses as well as the family dwelling. This building is an early example of Modernisme combined with an incipient and sober Noucentisme. There is no doubt that Modernista buildings erected in Reus were influenced by the architectural style of Domènech i Montaner. This effect is specially evident in the works designed by Pere Caselles, a municipal architect who had already worked with Domènech on the Pere Mata Institute and who designed a large number of both public and private buildings, including the Prat de la Riba Schools (1911), Casa Grau (1910), Casa Sagarra (1908), Casa Munné (1904), Casa Laguna (1904), Casa Tomàs Jordi (1909) and Casa Punyed (1900), and various industrial buildings such as the Abbatoir (begun by Francesc Borràs in 1889), and the Oenological Station (1906). Of the other architects who worked in Reus during this period, the most important were Joan Rubió i Bellvé, who was influenced by Gaudí’s style (Xalet Serra, 1911; Tuberculosis Dispensary, 1926, and Casa Serra, 1924), and Pere Domènech i Roura, the son of Domènech i Montaner (Casa Marco, 1926). Patronat Municipal de Turisme i Comerç de Reus (Reus Municipal Board of Tourism and Trade)

The Maresme shire developed dynamically into a broad range of productive sectors, mainly textiles and glass, liqueurs and wine-growing, while at the same time becoming a place where the Catalan bourgeoisie spent its summers and took the waters (the hot-water springs of Caldes d’Estrac and the medicinal springs of Argentona). It also attracted sailors and merchants returning from the Americas with the intention of settling down for good where they had originally come from.

Some of the creators of the architectural projects of Modernisme, such as Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Eduard Ferrés i Puig, Emili Cabanyes and Ignasi Mas i Morell, came from the Maresme, while others, such as Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Antoni M. Gallissà, made it their home. Their works display a rich variety of architectural types ranging from large summer residences, industrial buildings (factories, wine cellars) and shops to public commissions (town halls, markets, schools, abattoirs, children’s homes, churches, etc.). Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Lluís Domènech i Montaner were two of the leading exponents of Modernisme in Catalonia and were responsible for the fact that the Maresme has one of this movement’s most notable architectural heritages. In 2001, Mataró and Argentona, together with Barcelona, organised the Josep Puig i Cadafalch Year with various activities covering different cultural manifestations with a view to raising awareness about him and his outstanding work.

Mataró
Saló de Sessions de l’Ajuntament (1893), La Riera, 48. In 1893, Puig i Cadafalch, who at that time was working as a municipal architect in Mataró, drew up the plans for the renovation of the Sessions Hall in the town hall. Of particular note is the decoration of the panelled ceiling with beams adorned with coats-of-arms and emblematic symbols crossing each other.

The house where Puig i Cadafalch was born, El Carreró, 39. This house is an 18th century building known locally as a casa de cós, a long and narrow terraced house. A commemorative plaque on the façade, put up in 1967, recalls the figure of the illustrious architect. The façade was restored in 2001 on the occasion of Puig i Cadafalch Year.

El Rengle (1891-1893), Plaça Gran, s/n. The plans for this market building were drawn up by Emili Cabanyes, the municipal architect at that time. Puig i Cadafalch was responsible for renovating the semicircular roof decorated with ceramic tiles, open brickwork and wrought iron ornamental details.

La Confianza (1894-1896), Carrer de Sant Cristòfor, 10. This shop was commissioned by Francesc Palomer and opened in 1896. It sold pasta for soup and olive oil. Inside, the walls and ceiling of the shop are decorated with vegetable motifs and ornamental friezes and there are display cabinets with Neo-Gothic-style pinnacles, while outside it features a wrought iron sign with Modernista lettering.

Casa Parera (1894), Carrer Nou, 20. This building was renovated for Miquel Parera i Partagàs. It is a former two-storey casa de cós with floral and vegetable sgraffiti, exposed brickwork, wrought iron and medieval-type sculptural elements (corbels, coats-of-arms and gargoyles).

La Beneficència (1894), Carrer Sant Josep, 9. La Casa de la Beneficència, to give it its full name, was a poorhouse in the former Carmelite convent of Sant Josep, occupied at that time by the Conceptionists. Puig broke up the austere façade with large windows with corolla columns and medieval-inspired capitals, Neo-Gothic-style sculptural elements and the coats-of-arms of Mataró and Catalonia.

Casa Coll i Regàs (1896-1898), Carrer d’Argentona, 55-57. This house was commissioned by the Mataró businessman Joaquim Coll i Regàs. It is currently the headquarters of Fundació Caixa Laietana and the most emblematic Modernista building in town. In this building Puig i Cadafalch marshalled a comprehensive range of iconography and decoration with the intention of flattering his client, a prestigious textile industrialist.

Argentona
Puig i Cadafalch’s summer residence (1897-1905), Plaça de Vendre, s/n. This is the house where the architect used to spend the summer when he was little and where he later found refuge upon his return from exile in 1942. Puig opened up the party walls so as to join up what were originally three separate dwellings and make them into one. Of particular note are the Modernista elements such as the battlements, the sculptures and the broken-tile decoration (known as trencadís) on the chimneys.

Capella del Sagrament (1896-1897), Plaça de l’Església, 1. The new chapel is in Neo-Gothic style. It can be reached through a side door from the church of Sant Julià. The nave of the chapel has a rectangular ground plan, while the apse is built on a semi-hexagonal ground plan and roofed with lancet-arch vaults.

Can Calopa (1898), Carrer de Riudemeia, 8. This sixteenth-century manor house and ancestral home occupies four cóssos and has a pyramidal roof. According to Lluís Bonet i Garí, the plans for alterations to the building, which gave it its eclectic appearance, were drawn up by Puig i Cadafalch.

Casa Garí (1898), Camí de Sant Miquel del Cros, 9. This former Catalan country house was converted into a Nordic-inspired mansion for use as a summer residence in just nine months. Puig i Cadafalch was commissioned by Josep Garí i Cañas to take care of the architectural side of the transformation. Casa Garí was turned into veritable palace combining every luxury and facility (a theatre, gardens, a lake) with the image of a solid, fortified country house (two watchtowers facing south and a tower, with a sgraffito sundial on the wall, attached to the house).

Torre d’Aigües del Cros (1900), Avinguda Molí de les Mateves, s/n. This circular water-raising tower, shaped like a chimney, is made of clay bricks and has a roof decorated with broken tiles or trencadís. It supplied water to the Can Garí estate.

After this, the minibus takes you back to Mataró where the tour ends in Plaça de les Tereses.

Ajuntament d’Argentona
(Argentona Town Coucil)
Ajuntament de Mataró
(Mataró Town Council)
Actium Patrimoni Cultural, SL

THE RASPALL ROUTE, VALLÈS ORIENTAL

A suggestion for discovering the architecture of the summer residences in Vallès Oriental and the work of the architect Manuel Joaquim Raspall (1877-1954) in L’Ametlla, Cardedeu, La Garriga and Granollers.

The Modernisme of Summer Residences in Vallès Oriental: The Raspall Route
At the end of the 19th century, El Vallès Oriental was a shire that still had a strong agricultural base and timid industrial growth, highly focused on the capital, Granollers. However, its proximity to Barcelona and improved communication routes -local roads and two railway lines linking Barcelona to France- were at one and the same time key factors in triggering a process of development and transformation, and the cause and consequence of a phenomenon that characterised the small towns and villages of this area until well into the 20th century: the custom of city-dwellers to move out of Barcelona for the summer.

Ruta Raspall. Vallès Oriental Address Museu-Arxiu Tomàs Balvey Daurella, 1 08004 Cardedeu. Opening hours and visits Two main choices are available: One-day tour in l’Ametlla, la Garriga and Cardedeu, on the last Sunday of every month, from March to October. Tours start at 9.30am and end at 6pm. Guide, transport and entrance fees included. Half-a-day tour in l’Ametlla and la Garriga, or Cardedeu and Granollers. Available all year round, if booked in advance. Tours start at 10am and end at 2pm. Guide and entrance fees included (breakfast, lunch and transport are optional). Information Tel.: 938 713 070 / 639 566 887 (Pilar Vera) Fax: 938 711 477 m.cardedeu@diba.es www.museudecardedeu.org / www.turismevalles.net Getting there By train: RENFE, trains bound for Girona or Maçanet from Sants or Passeig de Gràcia stations. By bus: Sagalés company (tel.: 938 707 860). By car: road C-58 or highway AP-7 (exit Cardedeu). Further details Custom-made tours are available all year round if booked in advance. Minimum twenty people per group. Special guided tours in sign language also available. Prices and discounts Prices Complete Route: General ticket: With bus transport: €22.00. Without bus transport: €13.00. Pensioners and children aged 6 to 12: With bus transport: €18.70. Without bus transport: €11.05. Only two towns: General ticket: With bus transport: €20.00. Without bus transport: €10.00. Pensioners and children aged 6 to 12: With bus transport: €17.00. Without bus transport: €8.50. Local Route (only one town): General ticket: €7.00. Pensioners and children aged 6 to 12: €5.95. Discount of the Modernisme Route: 15% off the price of the general ticket.

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, this practice grew into a new form of leisure for the better-off classes in the cities, especially Barcelona. Although it began under the guise of therapeutic stays, by the 20th century it was simply a matter of people finding places away, but not too far, from their habitual residences, where they could engage in social life and enjoy a long period of holidays. The small towns and villages of El Vallès such as L’Ametlla, La Garriga and Cardedeu, which had hung on to their rural and agrarian character, gradually became attractive places to spend the summer on account of their nearness to Barcelona, their countryside and, above all, their therapeutic resources.

Doctors, lawyers, industrialists, financiers, politicians, people returning from the Americas having made their fortune and even artists, mainly from Barcelona, formed an emerging social class that was by no means compact, but had its own habits and ways of life defining it as a class. One of these habits was to go and spend the summer in places where they constituted a colony of summer residents. The colony was a clearly differentiated group within the life of each municipality. They dressed mainly in white, with parasols, hats, fans and sunglasses, frequented the Casino, the colony’s social hub and meeting point as well as an essential facility in every summer resort, and organised a range of activities, from dances and parties, plays and literary evenings to concerts, gymkhanas and excursions, not to mention all kinds of public and private events. Some of these were much talked-about, such as the two performances, including the première of the play La viola d’or (The Golden Viola) by Apel·les Mestres with music by Enric Morera, at the Teatre de la Natura in the Can Terres wood in La Garriga in 1911 and 1914, and the performance of the operetta Maruja by Amadeu Vives, in 1915, in the Vilalba wood in Cardedeu.

For small towns and villages such as L’Ametlla, La Garriga and Cardedeu, the summer residence phenomenon brought with it a considerable economic awakening that stimulated trade, direct relations with Barcelona, the development of services such as inns and spas and, above all, a boost to new construction and urban growth. The colony of summer residents needed new houses to stay in, either as owners or for rent, and these buildings had to incorporate the latest architectural trends of the time: Modernisme.

In L’Ametlla, La Garriga and Cardedeu magnificent homes were built in the Modernista style with lush gardens that today stand as testimony to a particular period. In these towns there are a large number of buildings, principally summer residences, by renowned architects of the time such as Eduard M. Balcells, Puig i Cadafalch, Jeroni Martorell, Emili Sala i Cortés and, above all, Joaquim Raspall, who had family connections with La Garriga.
M.J. Raspall i Mayol (1877-1954), a disciple of Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch, is regarded as belonging to the second generation of Modernista architects. Most of his work, with a markedly singular style, is to be found in the small towns in El Vallès for which he worked as a municipal architect - in Cardedeu (1904), L’Ametlla del Vallès (1906), La Garriga (1906), Granollers (1907), Caldes de Montbui (1909) and later Montmeló (1924). In these municipalities he built remarkable houses in the Modernista style as well as carrying out public-sector works, including town planning, designs for urban furniture and even Cardedeu Municipal Cemetery.

Going round these towns will give you the chance to get to know Raspall’s Modernista architecture, evoke the time when the practice of moving residence for the summer was in fashion and discover municipalities that were transformed and acquired character in the early part of the 20th century. The suggested route, entitled The Modernisme of Summer Residences in El Vallès Oriental: The Raspall Route, will allow you to spend a whole day going through L’Ametlla, La Garriga and Cardedeu discovering interesting corners, singular buildings and above all Modernista architecture designed for people to spend and enjoy their summers in Vallès Oriental.

The guided tour sets off from Cardedeu at half past nine in the morning. It begins with a brief coach trip to L’Ametlla del Vallès, a small town of medieval origin that became a centre for summer residences in the early 20th century. The main feature of the visit to L’Ametlla is Casa Millet, a 14th century farmhouse that was converted by Raspall in 1908 into the summer residence of Joan Millet, a cotton industrialist and brother of Lluís Millet, director and joint founder of the Catalan choral society, L’Orfeó Català. The garden, the façade and the interesting fireplace in the dining room are testimony to the architect’s most Modernista period.

After a guided walk and time for a coffee, the route continues to La Garriga, a watering place ever since Roman times and the town where most of the Modernista architecture in El Vallès Oriental is concentrated. A selection of over twenty houses will take you back to the time when it was the fashion to move out of the city in the summer, and give you the chance to enjoy the garden of Casa Barbey (1910), a house which the textile industrialist Juli Barbey built and is today one of the foremost examples of the Modernista movement outside the Barcelona area. Casa Barbey and the neighbouring buildings of Torre Iris (1911), La Bombonera (1910) and Casa Barraquer (1912-13) form the so-called Illa Raspall, or Raspall Block, a unique set of buildings in Catalonia now listed as of National Interest.

From La Garriga you go back to Cardedeu, stopping off at the municipal cemetery, one of the most interesting and remarkable pieces of funereal architecture in Catalonia. After an optional lunch, the route continues through the centre of Cardedeu with visits to Alqueria Cloelia (1904), the first private-sector work by Raspall, the gardens of Casa Viader (1917-1922), commissioned by Marc Viader, father of the Cacaolat inventor, the locally famous chocolate drink, and an exclusive visit to the entrance hall and library of Casa Golferichs-Rovellat (1908), which boasts a noteworthy set of glasswork with leaded stained-glass windows featuring completely Modernista figures and patterns.

The route is open to all types of groups and individuals and has special educational variants for school parties.



Modernisme d’Estiueig al Vallès Oriental (The Modernisme of Summer Residences in El Vallès Oriental)
Ajuntament de l’Ametlla (L’Ametlla Town Council)
Ajuntament de Cardedeu (Cardedeu Town Council)
Ajuntament de la Garriga (La Garriga Town Council)
Ajuntament de Granollers (Granollers Town Council)
Consorci de Turisme del Vallès Oriental (Vallès Oriental Tourist Board)

SITGES

For Sitges , the 19th century was a period of prosperity full of social, economic, technological and cultural changes, as it was for the rest of the Garraf shire, of which it is a part. The arrival of the railway, the export of wine by sea, the South American adventure, urban development and the bourgeoning of architectural styles made a major impact on this small Catalan coastal town.

Between 1892 and 1899 Sitges became a meeting place for Modernista artists following the arrival of Santiago Rusiñol i Prats in 1891. The painter (Barcelona 1861 - Aranjuez 1931), settled down to live here in Cau Ferrat having been attracted by the town’s scenary, by its inhabitants and by the colony of painters belonging to the Luminist school that already existed there.

Having been taken into their midst by these painters, Rusiñol organised five Festes Modernistes (Modernista Festivals) that brought the leading writers, musicians, critics, sculptors and artists in Catalonia to Sitges and turned this small seafaring town into “the Mecca of Modernisme” as it came to be called. In the summer of 1892, the First Fine Arts Exhibition, subsequently known as the First Modernista Festival, was held in the town hall. The exhibition included works by local artists, Ramon Casas, Eliseu Meifrèn and Santiago Rusiñol, all of whom were very significant figures in the Modernista movement.

Sitges Address Oficina Maricel Fonollar, s/n 08870 Sitges. Oficina Oasis Sinia Morera, 1 08870 Sitges. Opening hours and visits Maricel Office: Monday to Friday, from 9am to 2pm and 4pm to 6.30pm. From June through September, daily from 9am to 9pm . Scheduled visits on the first Sunday of every month. Visits only start if the group is at least 15 people. Entrance fee to the museum included. Groups may book private visits for any day all year round. There is no minimum of people in this option and language may be chosen beforehand, but entrance fee to the museum is not included in the price. Information Modernista tour information and bookings: Tel.: 619 793 199 agis_sitges@hotmail.com General Tourist information at Maricel Office: Tel.: 938 110 611 www.sitgestur.com Oasis office (hotel bookings): Tel.: 938 944 251 Fax: 938 944 305 Getting there By train: RENFE trains bound for Vilanova or Sant Vicenç de Calders, from Sants or Passeig de Gràcia stations. By bus: Mon Bus company (tel.: 938 937 060) leaving from Ronda Universitat. By car: toll road C-32 (Garraf tunnels) or road C-31. Prices and discounts Prices Adults: €8.00 (minimum 15 persons) Includes the entrance to the Museu Cau Ferrat. Catalan or Spanish groups Working days: €90.00. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays: €106.00. English or French groups Working days: €100.00. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays: €112.00. Does not include the entrance to the Museu Cau Ferrat (€1.50 per person). The prices for groups do not include 16% VAT. Discount of the Modernisme Route: 14% off the adult price.

The Modernista artists were keen to open themselves up to Europe and its cultural movements and Rusiñol and the group around the magazine L’Avenç organised the Second Modernista Festival with this object in mind. Taking the Belgian creators as reference point and in close collaboration with Enric Morera, who had trained as an artist in Brussels, they staged The Intruder, a work by the young Belgian playwright Maeterlinck, at the Casino Prado theatre. Music featured prominently at this Festival and there was a concert with works by César Frank and Enric Morera.

The Third Modernista Festival, borne along by confidence in the victory of Modernista ideals, was held in November 1894 and was very different from the other two. The events comprising the Festival were a procession bringing two paintings by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, El Greco, to Sitges and the official opening of Cau Ferrat, Rusiñol’s studio. The procession, organised by Rusiñol, was a demonstration of the excitement Rusiñol and his friends experienced at the sight of the works by El Greco, which they felt they had to show in popular fashion. These paintings, which Rusiñol bought from Pau Bosch in Paris, are now in the Cau Ferrat Museum. Once Cau Ferrat had been officially opened, a lunch was held nearby, at La Torreta, on the rocks, and then, after a speech by Rusiñol, a literary competition began during which Joan Maragall recited his “decadentist” verses, which were later to be regarded as the beginning of a new genre of poetry.

Music was the star of the Fourth Modernista Festival which took place on 14 February 1897, this time returning to the Casino Prado where a portrait of Enric Morera by Santiago Rusiñol hung in the foyer. The events began with a symphonic poem by Mercè Vidal, and the Canadian Dances by Paul Gibson, following which Rusiñol made a speech defending Modernista music. The Festival ended with the première of the opera La Fada (The Fairy), with a libretto by Jaume Massó i Torrents and music by Enric Morera. This was the most important event of the Fourth Modernista Festival.

The Fifth Modernista Festival, held in August 1899, staged two plays by Ignasi Iglésias, Lladres (Thieves) and La reina del cor (The Queen of the Heart), and one by Santiago Rusiñol, L’alegria que passa (Passing Joy). The pianist Joaquim Nin played works by Scarlatti, Grieg, Alió, Gay and Morera.

Sitges Modernista Route
The Modernista Route allows you to discover the imprint Modernisme left on Sitges as a result of the initiatives by Santiago Rusiñol and the wealth of the so-called americanos - local people who returned from the Spanish colonies having made their fortunes and embellished the streets of the town with their Modernista-style houses.

The Route begins at the train station, the symbol of the new era and the country’s modernity. It continues along the streets running through the town centre -Carrer de l’Illa de Cuba and Carrer de Francesc Gumà- where you can discover the Modernista constructions of some of the most outstanding architects of the time, such as Gaietà Buïgas, and where you can enjoy the decoration of some of the frontages (wrought iron work, ceramics, sgrafitti, stained glass windows, etc.). The buildings here include Casa Bonaventura Blay (1901), Casa Manuel Planas (1908) and Casa Pere Carreras (1906). If at all possible, you should take a look inside the Teatre Prado, a Modernista building where two of the Modernista Festivals organised by Rusiñol in Sitges were held and a meeting point for many of those involved.

The Route continues with a visit to a blue courtyard, the sole surviving example of the once typical Sitges courtyards, which was a source of inspiration for Rusiñol, who not only painted several pictures of it, but also based a play on it entitled El pati blau (The Blue Courtyard). You continue along Cap de la Vila to see another of the Modernista houses, one that once belonged to the americano Bartomeu Carbonell i Mussons. Next you come to Plaça de l’Ajuntament where the principal constructions are the Town Hall, featuring a Neo-Gothic style much used by the Modernista artists, and the market, the first Modernista building in Sitges.

The visit ends at the Cau Ferrat Museum, which was once the house-cum-studio of artist and art collector Santiago Rusiñol. Inside there is a large number of paintings by El Greco, Ramon Casas, Ignacio Zuloaga, Picasso and Rusiñol, among many others, as well as an extensive collection of wrought iron, ceramic and glass items.

Patronat Municipal de Turisme de Sitges
(Sitges Municipal Tourist Board)

 

 

TERRASSA

Industrial and Modernista Terrassa
The origins of the industrial transformation of Terrassa go back to the first third of the 19th century and have to do mainly with the expansion of the woollen textile industry. Technical improvements began with the introduction of spinning machines (1832) and steam engines (1833). Not long after this, from 1845 onwards, came the Jacquard looms that were to play a key part in the expansion of the textile industry. This development was aided by improved transport, including the building of a new road to Barcelona in 1845, but particularly by the arrival of the northern railway in 1856 linking Terrassa to Barcelona, Manresa and Saragossa. This new means of transport made it easier for raw materials, such as coal and wool, to be brought in and for the finished textile products to be sent out to the markets of Catalonia and the rest of Spain.

Major transformations occurred in the development, demography and society of the town. Terrassa expanded beyond its medieval structure towards Estació del Nord and, more importantly, by the early 20th century it had broken out of its traditional natural watercourse boundaries, Riera del Palau and Torrent de Vallparadís.

PDF

The usual idea of industrial heritage includes the most emblematic buildings where the industrial processes were actually carried out. In the case of the textile industry, this heritage comprises the chimneys, the steam-powered factories, the mills and the warehouses

Terrassa Address Ajuntament de Terrassa - Oficina de Turisme Raval de Montserrat,14 08221 Terrassa. Opening hours and visits Guided tours (previous booking required) every Saturday, except in December and from August 1st to September 15th. Tour starts at 10.15am from the Terrassa Tourist Office, and lasts approximately 3 hours. Information Tel.: 937 397 019 and 937 336 369 Fax: 937 397 063 www.visitaterrassa.cat      turisme@terrassa.cat Getting there By train: FGC trains bound for Terrassa and Manresa, from Plaça de Catalunya station; RENFE trains bound for Manresa from Sants or Plaça Catalunya stations. By car: road C-58 (exit Terrassa-centre). Prices and discounts Prices. Adults: €12.80. Children aged 7 to 16: €6.90. Children up to 7 years of age: free. Discount of the Modernisme Route: 30% off the price of the guided tour (prices with discount, adults €9.26 and retired €8.26).

Terrassa is the Catalan city where the largest number of items belonging to its textile industry heritage are still in existence. This concerns not just to the buildings recognised as being industrial as such, but also the development and creation of a town that grew out of a medieval structure, with everything that entails. All this can be seen in the layout of the streets, in the number and location of the steam-powered factories, in the mills and warehouses, but also in the workers’ dwellings -with all their different types and particular characteristics- and in the facilities set up to service industry and inhabitants, such as the railway station, the banks, the electricity supply, the hospital, the market, the hotels and the schools. It can even be seen in the spaces dedicated to supplying food and other services, or leisure and recreation, such as shops, chemists’, tobacconists’, fire stations, the casino, clubs, choral societies, cinemas and theatres. And it can also be seen in some of the items of street elements or the streets themselves with their cobblestones, pavements, lampposts, electrical items and carriage entrances.

Many of these industrial elements have survived in Terrassa to this day. Some of them are quite interesting taken separately, but overall they represent one of the most outstanding collections of industrial heritage in Catalonia.

Architectural Modernisme in Terrassa
Modernisme in architecture is generally characterised by the predominance of curved lines over straight lines -the use of parabolic and elliptical arches, the Catalan vault in the space between girders, and rounded edges-, the wealth and detail of the decoration, the frequent use of vegetable motifs and the dynamism of the shapes. The most commonly used materials are plain brickwork (although stucco and stone are also to be found), decorative ceramics, wrought iron and sgraffiti. These general features also apply to Terrassa, especially in the essentially practical and functional aspects of the use of the buildings. The exterior decorations are usually austere, whereas the interiors are finely decorated with ceramic banisters, leaded stained glass, woodwork and ironwork.
The local exhibition at the Real Colegio Tarrasense in 1883 marked the start of the renovation of the plastic arts in Terrassa. This initial boost paved the way for the introduction of new artistic currents imported from Europe that arrived via Barcelona: Art Nouveau and the Modern Style. The highpoint of this new Modernista style in the town was the exhibition at Palau d’Indústries (now Escola Industrial) in 1904 with the applied arts particularly prominent. Local artist Joaquim Vancells and Alexandre de Riquer from Barcelona made a decisive contribution to the spread of Modernisme to painting and ornamentation in Terrassa.

However the extension and spread of this style in the city are due to the architects Lluís Muncunill and Josep M. Coll i Bacardí, and, to a lesser extent, Melcior Vinyals and Antoni Pascual i Carretero. It was these professionals, together with builders and craftsmen, who transformed the city with public buildings, factories, warehouses and private dwellings. This transformation occurred at the same time as the industrial development and the cultural and artistic concerns of the bourgeoisie of the moment. This style survived in Terrassa practically until the 1930s, beyond the limits usually attributed to the movement.

Outstanding among the early Art Nouveau works in Terrassa are the plans for the assembly hall of the Industrial Institute, with mural paintings by Alexandre de Riquer (1901) that were finished by Joaquim Vancells (1904) following a disagreement with the Institute. The decoration by Vancells remains in place and the central painting, by Riquer, is today in the dining room of Casa Alegre de Sagrera. The versatile Joaquim Vancells has also left us several projects in this style: the furniture in the dining room and office of Masia Freixa, the paintings on the stairs of Casa Alegre de Sagrera and the overall design of Confiteria Vídua Carné. The rooting of the Modernista style in Terrassa as applied to the town’s industrial heritage is linked to the work of the most prolific local architect of the period: Lluís Muncunill.

The “Industrial and Modernista Terrassa” Route
This Route includes the town’s 25 most representative buildings and monuments. Since they are all fairly close together, they can be visited on foot in half a day. The former Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover, once one of the most spectacular factories in Europe and now home to the Museum of Science and Technique of Catalonia, was designed by Lluís Muncunill (1907). It still has a very impressive 11,000 square metre bay, the engine room, the chimney and the old coal bunkers. This former steam-powered factory shows you what the world of the workers and industry was like at that time before going on to buildings that bring you closer to the daily life of the city and its bourgeoisie. Next you go down Rambla d’Ègara to Mercat de la Independència (1906), which has a metal structure and remarkable wrought iron decoration. Continuing along Raval de Montserrat you come to the former Confiteria Carné, originally a sweet shop, now a chemists’ called Farmàcia Albiñana, and an extraordinary example of Modernista decorative arts; the former headquarters of the Societat General d’Electricitat (now converted into a restaurant); the Town Hall (l’Ajuntament), a Neo-Gothic-style building (1903). The former Industrial Institute (now Centre Excursionista) and Magatzem Cortès i Prat (1897) are the most noteworthy buildings until you come to Casa Alegre de Sagrera. This building (dating from the early 19th century, but renovated in 1911 and now part of the Museum of Terrassa) was the residence of an old family of industrialists and is an example of an extremely eclectic Modernista style. The outstanding interior features include paintings by Joaquim Vancells i Pere Viver, woodwork, leaded stained glass and glass work, and the great Modernista paintings by Alexandre de Riquer in the dining room. A visit to Gran Casino (1920), a recently restored sumptuous building, is a must. On the way to the building and gardens of the Industrial Institute (the former Pasqual Sala store, 1893) you will see various houses that retain the spirit of the industrial Terrassa of a hundred years ago: Casa Concepció Monset, Casa Baltasar Gorina and Cases de Cal Maurí (a group of humble dwellings for workers, one of the few still remaining in Catalonia). The Teatre Principal is another landmark on the route through Modernista Terrassa. This is a monumental building erected in 1911 and now in disuse. Old stores and houses (Magatzem Francesc Roig, Magatzem Emili Matalonga, Casa Jacint Bosch, Magatzem Joaquim Alegre, Magatzem Torras, etc.) accompany you on your way to Carrer de la Rasa, where you will find the section of the Ventalló factory, which has been converted into a public space and a residential area including a square with arcades, the Marcet i Poal factory (1920) and warehouse (1914), and, finally, the section of the Izard factory (1921), a spectacular building that opens onto Plaça Didó and is now home to the Sala d’Exposicions Muncunill (Muncunill Exhibitions Hall) in what was once the factory’s dyeing room. The route ends in the middle of Parc de Sant Jordi at Masia Freixa (1905-1910), the former residence and also factory of the Freixa family, designed by Lluís Muncunill.




Ajuntament de Terrassa
(Terrassa Town Council)

 

 

THE VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS MODERNISTA ROUTE

Modernisme in Vilafranca del Penedès
The economic resurgence of the Alt Penedès, after a plague of phylloxeras had destroyed the vineyards, the basis of the shire’s economy, paved the way for the arrival of the artistic and social current that was beginning to take hold in Europe. Farm owners and merchants became the receivers of Modernista trends and had buildings put up in keeping with their economic position.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Vilafranca begun its transformation from a village into a small town as new buildings sprang up, changing its traditional image, and plans were laid for a new type of town. Renowned architects took over from master builders and there emerged the figures of Santiago Güell, Eugeni Campllonch and Antoni Pons. Santiago Güell (Vilafranca, 1869) was the municipal architect and played an active part in the political life of Vilafranca. As an architect he was scrupulous and a perfectionist. It was he who left the biggest imprint on the town, creating the town’s image and designing many of its most emblematic buildings. These buildings were characterised by mastery of the architectural technique and personal touches which he applied to his works with sobriety, elegance and balance.

Vilafranca del Penedès Address Tourist Office Cort, 14 08720 Vilafranca del Penedès. Opening hours and visits Guided visits in downtown Vilafranca, 2009:     April 5     May 3     June 7     September 27     December 6 Previous booking required. Privately booked visits are available all year round for groups of at least 8 people. Information Tel.: 938 181 254 Fax: 938 181 479 turisme@vilafranca.org www.turismevilafranca.com Getting there By train: RENFE trains bound for Sant Vicenç de Calders or Vilafranca itself, from Sants or Passeig de Gràcia stations. By bus: Hispano Igualadina company (tel.: 938 044 451). By road: toll highways AP2 and AP7 (exit 29), or road N-340. Prices and discounts Prices. Adults: €5.30. Children up to 12 years of age: free. The visit includes visit inside Casa Miró. Discount of the Modernisme Route: 15%. Description Modernisme in Vilafranca del Penedès The economic resurgence of the Alt Penedès, after a plague of phylloxeras had destroyed the vineyards, the basis of the shire’s economy, paved the way for the arrival of the artistic and social current that was beginning to take hold in Europe. Farm owners and merchants became the receivers of Modernista trends and had buildings put up in keeping with their economic position. Towards the end of the 19th century, Vilafranca begun its transformation from a village into a small town as new buildings sprang up, changing its traditional image, and plans were laid for a new type of town. Renowned architects took over from master builders and there emerged the figures of Santiago Güell, Eugeni Campllonch and Antoni Pons. Santiago Güell (Vilafranca, 1869) was the municipal architect and played an active part in the political life of Vilafranca. As an architect he was scrupulous and a perfectionist. It was he who left the biggest imprint on the town, creating the town’s image and designing many of its most emblematic buildings. These buildings were characterised by mastery of the architectural technique and personal touches which he applied to his works with sobriety, elegance and balance. Modernista architecture in Vilafranca combines popular Catalan architecture with the traits typical of Modernisme, which contributed new materials and a new conception of space. On the route through Modernista Vilafranca you will be able to see the colourful naturalistic decoration of the façades, the use of exposed brickwork on some buildings and the stained glass and wrought iron railings on windows and balconies. Vilafranca’s Modernista heritage comprises 33 buildings of the most varied kinds: ancestral homes, public buildings and warehouses catering for the export of wines and liqueurs, clear exponents of the importance of industrial architecture in its own right. Modernisme also embraced other aspects of art such as painting, sculpture and urban furniture design. As you walk along Carrer de Santa Maria, right in the centre of Vilafranca, you will see some singular examples of this latter type in the form of streetlamps. If you go into the Crypt of the Basilica you will find an excellent sculpture by Josep Llimona and in the Vilafranca Museum there are drawings by Ricard Opisso as well as works by other Modernista artists. This Vilafranca route allows you to learn about the impact this cultural movement had at the turn of the century through the new symbols of progress and modernity contributed by the innovative trend called Modernisme. Modernisme and music Apel·les Mestres i Oñós (Barcelona 1854-1936) Modernista music concerts Making use of the scores in the musical archives of the Vilafranca Museum - Wine Museum, a considerable range of the music written by Apel·les Mestres has been recovered as it constitutes a representative example of Catalan Modernista music. Apel·les Mestres’s links with Vilafranca are significant due to his relationship with the local poet Lluís Via and the musician and folklorist Francesc de Paula Bové. As a good Modernista, Apel·les Mestres was a versatile artist interested in taking an active part in culture and giving it new forms and contents. As a participant in the Modernista phenomenon, he was at one and the same time a poet, sketcher, composer, gardener and art collector. He set to music poems synthesising the Modernista ideals: the will for Catalonia to have a voice of its own in the world, Romanticism, nature as a force arising out of the earth and as a life force, and female beauty and an ironic way of looking at things as forms of human sensitivity. Although he himself wrote a large number of songs that were frequently performed, achieved great popularity and today part of the repertoire of traditional Catalan songs, Apel·les Mestres never looked on himself as a composer, defining himself instead as a “songster”. However his poetry was set to music by the best Catalan composers of the time including Enric Granados, Enric Morera and Joan Lamote de Grignon. As a complement to the Vilafranca del Penedès Modernista route, a selection of music by Apel·les Mestres has been made containing popular and spontaneous elements and dealing with nature, the geographies of life and the beauty of the female in the imagination. A total of thirteen pieces taken from the musical archives of the Vilafranca Museum - Wine Museum, some of them never previously performed, make up the programme of this exclusive session of music that ends the guided tour of Modernista Vilafranca. Patronat Municipal de Comerç i Turisme (Municipal Trade and Tourism Board)

Modernista architecture in Vilafranca combines popular Catalan architecture with the traits typical of Modernisme, which contributed new materials and a new conception of space. On the route through Modernista Vilafranca you will be able to see the colourful naturalistic decoration of the façades, the use of exposed brickwork on some buildings and the stained glass and wrought iron railings on windows and balconies.

Vilafranca’s Modernista heritage comprises 33 buildings of the most varied kinds: ancestral homes, public buildings and warehouses catering for the export of wines and liqueurs, clear exponents of the importance of industrial architecture in its own right.

Modernisme also embraced other aspects of art such as painting, sculpture and urban furniture design. As you walk along Carrer de Santa Maria, right in the centre of Vilafranca, you will see some singular examples of this latter type in the form of streetlamps. If you go into the Crypt of the Basilica you will find an excellent sculpture by Josep Llimona and in the Vilafranca Museum there are drawings by Ricard Opisso as well as works by other Modernista artists.

This Vilafranca route allows you to learn about the impact this cultural movement had at the turn of the century through the new symbols of progress and modernity contributed by the innovative trend called Modernisme.

Modernisme and music
Apel·les Mestres i Oñós (Barcelona 1854-1936)

Modernista music concerts
Making use of the scores in the musical archives of the Vilafranca Museum - Wine Museum, a considerable range of the music written by Apel·les Mestres has been recovered as it constitutes a representative example of Catalan Modernista music.

Apel·les Mestres’s links with Vilafranca are significant due to his relationship with the local poet Lluís Via and the musician and folklorist Francesc de Paula Bové.

As a good Modernista, Apel·les Mestres was a versatile artist interested in taking an active part in culture and giving it new forms and contents. As a participant in the Modernista phenomenon, he was at one and the same time a poet, sketcher, composer, gardener and art collector. He set to music poems synthesising the Modernista ideals: the will for Catalonia to have a voice of its own in the world, Romanticism, nature as a force arising out of the earth and as a life force, and female beauty and an ironic way of looking at things as forms of human sensitivity.

Although he himself wrote a large number of songs that were frequently performed, achieved great popularity and today part of the repertoire of traditional Catalan songs, Apel·les Mestres never looked on himself as a composer, defining himself instead as a “songster”. However his poetry was set to music by the best Catalan composers of the time including Enric Granados, Enric Morera and Joan Lamote de Grignon.

As a complement to the Vilafranca del Penedès Modernista route, a selection of music by Apel·les Mestres has been made containing popular and spontaneous elements and dealing with nature, the geographies of life and the beauty of the female in the imagination. A total of thirteen pieces taken from the musical archives of the Vilafranca Museum - Wine Museum, some of them never previously performed, make up the programme of this exclusive session of music that ends the guided tour of Modernista Vilafranca.


Patronat Municipal de Comerç i Turisme
(Municipal Trade and Tourism Board)