The Sayrach house, whose sinuous stone façade is one of the most recognizable and photographed images of Avinguda Diagonal, has hidden for years a small treasure that is about to change hands and symbolizes the admiration of the architect Manuel Sayrach for his great referent, Antoni Gaudí. We are referring to a beautifully crafted modernist mirror with the signature of Gaudí himself, an inheritance that will soon change hands in a history traversed by art and culture. From hanging peacefully for years in one of the stately apartments of the Casa de la Nata -so known for the white color of the stone on the façade-, the mirror will go on to swell the heritage of Barcelona City Council as part of the payment of a debt .
The origin of this debt is the inheritance of Manuel Sayrach and Fatjó dels Xiprers, who died in 2020 at the age of 92. Journalist and editor, throughout his life Manuel Sayrach kept alive the humanist passion that he inherited from his father, Manuel Sayrach and Carreras architect of the house of the same name. Sayrach hijo was significant in the defense of the Catalan language, especially as a booster of the Catalan Language Academy together with intellectuals such as Raimon Galí, Jaume Vicens Vives, Aureli Maria Escarré or Jordi Pujol. It was from this platform that Sayrach edited the magazine L'Infantil until 2011, later converted into Tretzevents.
"The mirror has always remained at home," Manuel's daughter explained to La Vanguardia, "but we didn't talk much about it either, it was hanging in the hall." Everything changed with his death, when they find an "exorbitant" capital gain and think of offering the mirror to pay off the debt on the condition that he stay in Catalonia, as his father wanted. "For him, art was the expression of the country" and losing a piece like this would have meant "losing one's roots."
Thus began some negotiations that, after two years navigating through various administrations, have been able to agree once the mirror has passed the review of municipal experts. The carving, made of stuccoed wood and gilded with gold leaf and beveled glass, measures 67 by 69 centimeters, and according to the Generalitat's catalog of cultural heritage, it was made between 1901 and 1905 and originally came from the Milà house. Its valuation has been carried out by the Institut de Cultura de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona, which has valued it at 60,000 euros, an amount that will be used to cover part of the debt contracted for the payment of capital gains.
"Paying taxes in dation is a way to defray debts designed for large amounts," explains the City Council Councilor for Culture, Jordi Martí. It is therefore logical that it is a form of payment used by the State, which is the main collector, as well as by the Generalitat. In the case of Barcelona City Council, this is the first time it has been used, in view of the interest that the piece arouses in order to enrich the city's heritage. "It's a nice way to incorporate heritage," says Martí. Once in the hands of the council, the Gaudinian mirror is likely to end up on display in some public institution, such as the MNAC or the Museu del Disseny.
Precisely last year the museum organized an exhibition that included, among other elements, several pieces of furniture designed by the genius from Reus, who before rising to fame as an architect was already known thanks to these works. Not surprisingly, one of the first cabinet-making jobs was his work desk, made in 1878 as soon as he finished his architecture degree. Two gas lampposts designed for Plaça Reial and Pla de Palau also date from this early period, as well as a display case for the Esteban Comella glove shop, awarded at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1878, where it was admired by the industrialist Eusebi Güell, This is how he began his relationship with the architect.
These examples reflect the importance that Gaudí gave to interiors, making his own furniture just like Victor Horta, Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies Van der Rohe did. It was the logical conclusion of the way in which Gaudí understood art, without distinctions between the so-called major and minor arts, between architecture, painting, forging or cabinet-making. As Daniel Giralt-Miracle explains, Gaudí designs a doorknob or a couch with the same determination as a temple or a park, or for that matter a mirror.
The City Council trusts that this dation opens the door to the payment of other debts with the same method, especially from large companies. Although that does not mean, as Jordi Martí warns, that this kind of payment is a right of individuals. “The technicians must determine our interest”, he underlines, like the interest aroused by the mirror of this story, which a century after its creation will continue to twin the surnames Sayrach and Gaudí. "I am very happy that the history of the mirror ends like this", affirms the widow of Manuel Sayrach with satisfaction, "art should not be closed, but open to everyone".
