Catalonia - Art and Culture 2018

A brief history of CATALAN culture It is through culture that we know history. What remains is a message from our predecessors, which reaches us in the form of literature, music, painting, sculpture, and more.

© imagen m.a.s.

© Imagen m.a.s.

T

hroughout the land we now know as Catalonia, there are various traces of human presence during the Neolithic period. It was the

these counts, who took advantage of the relaxation of the French Empire to gain more effective control of the country and start a policy of alliances with the county of Barcelona and the kingdom of Aragon. Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, is considered the first noble who gave Cata- lonia a solid political structure through the Corts and the usatges (a primitive civil code), thus weakening the power of the French king. It was count Ramon Berenguer IV who, through marriage to Princess Petro- nila, crea-ted the alliance between the Ca- talan kingdoms and the kingdom of Aragon.

These were prosperous times from an eco- nomic standpoint, with an increase in inter- nal and external commercial activity. And they were also splendid years from a cul- tural perspective, with Romanesque art (ar- chitecture, painting, and sculpture). This climate of bonanza sowed the seed for a new social class, the bourgeoisie, which began to question the power and old feudal structures, and consumed and promoted culture. The first texts written in Catalan also began to flou-rish. Les Homilies d’Organyà, a text written between the end of the 12th century and early 13th century,

compiles several sermons given by a parish priest in this village of the Pyrenees. In addi- tion to the Mediterranean expansion of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown with figures like King Jaume I, the 13th century is marked by a great literary name, Ramon Llull, the au- thor of great philosophical discourses and other literary works. His texts mix mystical questions with concepts of advanced logic. In the mid-14th century, poor harvests, starvation, and epidemics hit Europe. Cata- lonia was no exception. From a literary per- spective, this period of time was when some of the greatest Catalan authors ex-

Jellyfish head, Roman mosaic from the 3rd century, found in Tarragona. Gothic gallery of the Palau de la generalitat, one of the best preserved original pieces.

arrival of the Greeks (in the 8th century BC) and that of the Romans (218 BC) which be- gan to configure a network of centres of population that were the origin of large ci- ties (Barcino, Tarraco, etc.) and the bulk of the cultural inheritance. With the advance of the Arabs (8th cen- tury), Charlemagne left the country’s de- fence in the hands of the counts along the border. The conquest slowly strengthened

2nd century BC

785

S. ix

11th and 12th

1527

1400

Palau de la Generalitat Construction begins on the Palau de la Generalitat in the Gothic style. This is the first headquarters of the General Court of Catalonia.

Altar of the monastery of Poblet Work in alabaster by the sculptor Damià Forment, considered to be one of the artists who ntroduced the Renaissance in the Iberian peninsula.

Romanesque in the Vall de Boí A set of nine churches declared UNESCO world heritage. These are the ultimate expression of the Catalan Romanesque style.

Sant Quirze de Pedret Considered one of the first Romanesque paintings in Catalonia.

Charlemagne The emperor of the Lombards and the Gauls who conquered and conceded Girona to the French counts.

Aesculapius Sculpture in marble found in the Greek ruins of Empúries.

© agustí carbonell

© imagen m.a.s

© imagen m.a.s

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