After eight years of debate, conversations, works and restoration, the Catalan baroque finally shines in all its splendor in the center of Manresa. On Wednesday, February 21, coinciding with the local celebration, the Festa de la Llum, the doors of the Baroc Museum of Catalonia will open, where the Sant Ignasi School previously stood, a baroque building, declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest, which has been Completely rehabilitated by municipal architect David Closes.
The new center houses the most representative works of Catalan baroque from the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly coming from the Manresa Museum and also from 18 Catalan museums, with a total of 182 pieces. In this operation, 7.5 million euros have been invested in an area of more than 9,000 square meters. The first floor has been set up for the museum and has cost 1.9 million.
The mayor of Manresa, Marc Aloy (ERC), was proud and excited yesterday about the result of the process: “We have a first-rate cultural facility, which places Manresa as the epicenter of Catalan baroque and will allow the general public to rediscover "This heritage is so important in our country." But it is a race that has not yet ended, since the City Council has the challenge of seeking funding to finish the content of the other three floors and manage the exit from the historical archive. The presentation included the words of the general director of Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat of Catalonia; Sònia Hernández, the director of the MNAC, Pepe Serra; the director of the Manresa Museum, Francesc Vilà, and the Councilor for Culture, Tània Infante.
In an exhibition space of 675 square meters – which will be doubled in a second stage – there are 12 state-of-the-art audiovisual resources and baroque music. For the first time, the most representative authors of this era, sometimes little recognized, according to experts, can be seen together. One of the protagonists is Antoni Viladomat, the most relevant painter of the first half of the 18th century in Catalonia, of whom you can admire three of the paintings from the series of paintings dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi that decorated, until the time of the Napoleonic invasion, the main cloister of the large convent of Sant Francesc, in Barcelona.
Also noteworthy is Joaquim Juncosa, with the Flagellation of Christ, which is part of the national art collection of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Francesc Tramulles i Roig, one of the most important figures in 18th century Catalan painting, with the engraving La máscara real de Carlos III, from the MNAC; Francesc Pla Duran, known as the Vigata, with the painting Moisés destroying the Pharaoh's armies; Pere Cuquet, tenebrist style painter, with the Nativity scene that was part of the set of six canvases of the main altarpiece of the Carmel church in Manresa, saved from the destructive raids on the religious heritage during the Civil War. Other outstanding authors are Josep Bernat Flaugier, with the bridal entourage with the statue of Hymeneu, from the MNAC; Andreu Sala and Ramon Amadeu Grau, two of the sculptors of the Catalan Baroque, with the imposing Saint warrior or the delicate Santa Anna and the Virgin girl, from the MNAC fund; Joan Grau, Josep Sunyer and Jaume Padró, from the 17th century Baroque sculpture school in Manres. Several works by these local artists – there was a great school in Manresa – can be seen in the collection of the Manresa Museum, the Manresa Seu Museum and the Cervera Museum.
The general director of the Cultural Heritage highlighted the close collaboration that has existed between the City Council and the Generalitat. “The regional museum takes an important leap and takes on national relevance. That is why we encourage you to start the process to have it declared a museum of national interest, a recognition of its role and the importance of its collection.” Culture has invested 60,000 euros in the purchase of twelve pieces for the museum in the last two years. Francesc Vilà recalled how it seemed like a dream that was difficult to achieve in the first conversations in 2015 and thanked “the good harmony with the City Council and the Generalitat to make it a reality today.”
