Palau Solterra Museum facts for kids
The Palau Solterra Museum is a fantastic cultural spot in Torroella de Montgrí, a town in Girona, Spain. It's part of the Vila Casas Foundation. This museum opened its doors in 2000. Today, it showcases over 300 amazing contemporary photographs. These photos are by artists from all over the world, including famous names like Chema Madoz, Alberto García Álix, Toni Catany, and Xavier Miserachs. The museum also hosts special art exhibitions and talks about history.
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The Museum Building
The Palau Solterra building is very old and special. It was officially recognized as an artistic historical monument in 1981. The museum itself opened in 2000. At first, it displayed paintings, but later it became home to the wonderful photography collection you see today.
The building has a mix of different architectural styles. You can see parts that look like Gothic or Renaissance designs. This shows how many changes and updates the building has had over hundreds of years.
No one knows the exact year the palace was built. However, experts believe it was constructed between the late 1300s and early 1400s. It was originally built for the old Pons family. In 1503, a member of this family married Anna Beneta de Gurb, who was from Sant Hilari Sacalm and owned the Solterra estate. This marriage brought their properties together, which is how the palace got its name, "Palau Solterra." For the next five centuries, the palace was a grand home for many important families in the region.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the palace was empty. Some rooms were used to hand out ration cards to the people of Torroella de Montgrí. In the 1960s, the ground floor was fixed up and used as a private cultural center. It was called the Palace of the Castle of the Mystery. Later, the town council bought it and used it as a meeting place for young people. But the building quickly became unsafe and had to be closed. Finally, in 1999, the Vila Casas Private Foundation took over. They carefully restored the palace, turning it into the fantastic contemporary photography museum it is today.
The Photography Collection
Palau Solterra is home to a permanent collection of modern photography. It also features temporary exhibitions by artists from Spain and other countries. The museum displays more than 300 contemporary photographs. This makes it one of the most important photography museums in Spain.
Permanent Photo Exhibition
The permanent exhibition is set up in a special way. It lets visitors explore the photos in many different ways. The exhibition doesn't follow a strict timeline. Instead, it focuses on how modern ideas are shown through the images and stories in the artworks.
Special Temporary Exhibitions
Temporary exhibitions are held in the rooms on the ground floor. This is also where you can see the winning photos from the Vila Casas Foundation's photography contest. This contest helps find and support new artists. On the same floor, there's an auditorium. Here, the museum hosts talks about history and other cultural events. These activities are closely connected to the local community and its heritage.
Museum Services
The Palau Solterra Museum offers several services to make your visit enjoyable and educational.
Educational Resources
The museum provides special educational guides about its collection. These guides are for teachers and group leaders. They help prepare for visits and make learning about the art even better.
Guided Tours
The museum also offers guided tours. These tours are updated regularly to match the changing exhibitions.
- Guided tours for adults (by reservation): You can book a tour of the permanent exhibition, the temporary exhibition, or a special tour about the building's architecture led by experts.
- Courtesy guided tours: These tours of the permanent exhibition are included with your ticket. They happen every Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
Other Vila Casas Museums
The Vila Casas Foundation has several other amazing museums you might like to visit.
- Can Framis Museum is the newest museum from the Vila Casas Foundation. It's an art center in Barcelona that focuses on modern Catalan painting. Located in an old factory, it shows over 250 paintings from the 1960s to today. These works are by artists born or living in Catalonia. Besides the main collection, Can Framis also has a space for temporary exhibitions. They regularly update their permanent collection and open new temporary shows every three months.
- Espai Volart is a space for temporary exhibitions by artists whose work is part of the foundation's collection. It was the first art space opened by the foundation in Barcelona in 2002. It's located in the old storage rooms of a beautiful Modernist building called Casa Antonia Puget. This building was declared a local cultural heritage site. Every July, Espai Volart also hosts exhibitions of work by students finishing Fine Arts at Barcelona University. It also displays a selection of works from the Ynglada-Guillot drawing prize.
- Espai Volart 2 hosts temporary exhibitions by well-known artists. Their work fits into one of the foundation's main art areas: contemporary painting, photography, or sculpture. Unlike Espai Volart, which focuses only on artists from the collection, Espai Volart 2 shows work by artists famous in the Catalan art world. Espai Volart 2 opened in 2008. It's in the old storage rooms of another Modernist building, Casa Felip, in Barcelona. This building was also declared a local cultural heritage site in the early 1980s.
- Can Mario Museum is the Vila Casas Foundation's Museum of Contemporary Sculpture. It's located in Palafrugell on the Costa Brava. It opened in 2004. This museum displays about 220 sculptures from the 1960s to today. These works are by many different artists born or living in Catalonia. Temporary exhibitions are also held here every year. Can Mario used to be a cork factory in the early 1900s. Since April 2011, 33 sculptures by artists from the Empordà region have been placed in the Gardens of Can Mario as outdoor exhibits. In October 2011, the Empordà Room was opened inside the museum for temporary exhibitions by local artists.
See also
In Spanish: Museo Palau Solterra para niños
