Culture and traditions

Following in the footsteps of Bishop Oliba a thousand years after his appointment as Bishop of Vic has encouraged us to explore other Romanesque gems in the area surrounding Barcelona, because there’s always some secret left to discover. If we had a protractor, the city of Vic would be at the centre of its base, just a few kilometres from places where Romanesque heritage blends into beautiful nature.

At the beginning of the last century, Art Nouveau was all the rage in Paris: wavy facades, floral motifs on signs, wrought-iron staircases ... This new aesthetic depicted modern city life and had a huge impact in Catalonia. However, when the winds of Art Nouveau blew across the Pyrenees, Catalan architects reinterpreted it in their own way. This is what we know as Catalan Modernisme.

The history books chart the profound transformation that Catalonia – and, in particular, the regions of Barcelona – underwent at the turn of the 20^th century, when all areas of life were turned upside down: art, literature, architecture, public space, the economy... In fact, there’s no better way to gain an understanding of the era than by visiting its architectural gems. Catalan modernism represents a time when a series of families set out to be modern and flaunt it.