If everything goes as it should, the future Casa de les Lletres will open in the Palau Requesens – as La Vanguardia announced two weeks ago – in the first quarter of 2027, and in addition to maintaining the Royal Academy of Letters, the Institution will be installed of Catalan Literature, the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language (AELC), the Asociación Collegial de Escritores de Catalunya (ACEC), the Catalan PEN, the Espais Escrits network (Catalan Literary Heritage) and the Catalan Children and Youth Book Council (ibbycat).
Thus, the palace “will become a physical space of reference for literary creation in our country” and “will resolve a historical debt with the entities, which have been asking for their own space for a long time,” said the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga. , at the presentation of the project this Thursday. The councilor explained that the project, which has a budget of 4.8 million euros, is a proposal from the National Book and Reading Plan (PNLL), based on a demand from years ago, and that it was partially ready to be fulfilled when Barcelona City Council announced in 2017 (with Jaume Collboni as Deputy Mayor for Business, Culture and Innovation) a project with some similarities (in addition to the creators' entities, it had to house the Consorci de Libraries and the Barcelona offices Unesco City of Literature in the old TMB garages and was scheduled for 2019). For Garriga, the proximity of the new State public library, at the França station, can turn the area into a cultural hub to “invigorate this part of the city from the local perspective. “It will be a space gained for culture, for the sector and for citizens.” "In a few years," Garriga assured, "we will look back and see that thanks to the decisions of this legislature, the center of our capital will end up having two literary spaces that feed off each other, and where culture is the main protagonist."
At this moment, the architect of the Generalitat Mercè Martínez is finishing drafting the functional plan of the building, classified as a cultural asset of national interest, with which a competition of ideas will be called, which would have to be awarded in the third quarter of this year. , with the expectation that the works will be completed by the end of 2026 and it can be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2027. Apart from the work to house the new activity, the palace is already beginning to be rehabilitated, with the commitment of the department that the activity Academics are not interrupted at any time.
Borja de Riquer, president of the Reial Acadèmia de les Bones Lletres, has taken a historical tour of the Gothic palace going back to its origins, in the 13th century, despite the fact that most of the structure is from the 15th century, but built in part on the Roman wall itself, with some vicissitudes that include the conversion into a tobacco warehouse after the confiscation in 1837, until the academy entered in 1917, which found it almost in ruins and restored it in successive phases. Currently the building is owned by the Generalitat, which had transferred it to the academy in an agreement that ended this year, and by common agreement it was decided to build a new one that would allow the rehabilitation of the spaces and at the same time convert the building into a nucleus of activity outside. In addition to the provision of common spaces, it is planned to be a building that can be visited, with a cafeteria in the so-called Tinellet, and rooms where activities can be held with the public, as well as the opening of its small romantic garden – with the large garden of the Ateneu Barcelonès , are the only ones of these characteristics in Barcelona.
“Academies fail to see ourselves in society,” said Riquer, so as the president of the AELC, Sebastià Portell, said, “coexistence will be more than beneficial.” Portell recalled the “generous conversation and participation” process in the PNLL, because from the author institutions “we have become annoying but we are happy because we have found accomplices.” The Casa de les Lletres “will provide institutional stability and will become a place of reference and prestige,” he recalled. Currently, the AELC, the ACEC and the Pen Català have their headquarters in the Ateneu Barcelonès.
