Clara Forn, archeologist of the Museum, defended her thesis about Baetulo

Last October, our colleague Clara Forn defended her thesis entitled “Baetulo de l’origen a la fi (II ANE – VI DNE). Topographical, spatial and historical analysis based on a GIS project”, which obtained the qualification cum laude. The doctoral thesis was directed by Dr. Josep Guitart i Duran, former director of the Museum of Badalona and author of the thesis “Baetulo. Topography archeology urbanism and history” published by the Museum of Badalona in 1976.

The dissertation presented is the second monographic thesis written on the city of Baetulo, and aims to be a benchmark for archaeological studies of the city of Baetulo and urban archaeological sites, as well as being the basis for future studies works related to the city and its territory.

The work is structured in two large blocks. The first presents the study framework and reviews both previous archaeological studies and urban archeology work over almost a hundred years. The second, which is divided into three sections, presents for the first time an exhaustive analysis of the Roman city and its suburbs based on a project based on geographic information systems. Therefore, all archaeological structures are analyzed from a topographical, spatial and historical perspective.

It is necessary to highlight the effort to digitize and update the result of the archaeological interventions made from 1927 to the present day, applying an own and leading methodology that will facilitate a large amount of data both in future scientific investigations, as in the management of the archaeological site and its dissemination.

 

The Orfeó Badaloní

At the end of 1920, Antoni Botey, Jaume Costa, Salvador Valls, Joan Aymerich and Ramon Salsas promoted the creation of a choir in Badalona. The project, which soon gained the support of a good group of partners, became a reality on April 27th, 1921, the date on which the Orfeó was established, and on June 29th of the same year it was presented in society at a party at the Zorrilla Theater dedicated to partners and protectors.

In February 1923, the organization’s banner was blessed in an event attended by the president of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and the director and founder of the Orfeó Català, Lluís Millet.

The design of the banner is the work of the architect Joan Amigó i Barriga, who had previously designed that of the Center Catalanista Gent Nova.

The Museum also preserves a set of ties (inv. MB 7869-MB 7877 and MB 11760-MB 11791) of various dates that bear witness to the Orfeó’s participation in various cantadas and festivals around the world.

 

 

                                        Banner of the Orfeó Badaloní. 1923

Archaeological news in the neighborhood of Coll i Pujol

Between the months of July and August 2024, an archaeological intervention has been carried out on Santa Bàrbara street, in the neighborhood of Coll i Pujol. As a result of this intervention, several elements have been discovered that span a chronological range from the Roman era to the contemporary era, and which have been preserved at a great depth.

The archaeological works, which have been carried out by the company ÀTICS SL under the direction of the archaeologist Iñaki Moreno, have been promoted by the ownership of the plot. Monitoring has been done from the Museum of Badalona under the supervision of the Archeology and Paleontology Service of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

We are in a space that in recent years has been the subject of the discovery of several archaeological remains belonging to the western suburb of the Roman city of Baetulo, and medieval and modern agricultural spaces. In this sense, two funerary buildings have been partially documented of which only the foundations are preserved. Of note is a tower-shaped mausoleum that would be at the foot of the Via Augusta, from the 1st century AD. The remains of a room that was part of a rural establishment from the 4th century AD have also been very partially preserved. In another part of the site, the remains of two walls that functioned as agricultural parcels and a well from the late medieval period have been excavated.

The archaeological work, which has already been completed, will increase knowledge of the peri-urban areas of the city. The archaeological control and monitoring will continue until the execution of the planned building.

 

 

Room of the Roman era. A_ATICS SL

Mausoleum s. I AD. A_ATICS SL.

Medieval subdivision walls. A_ATICS SL

 

 

The Coro Marítimo Badalonés

The Coro Marítimo Badalonés society was a choral and mutual aid organization founded in 1900, which operated until 1994. The premises were located on Passeig de la Rambla, no. 4, next to the building known as Ca l’Escanyaralets, where there is currently an architect’s office.

Although the main activity was that of a choral organization, the venue had a small stage that made it easy to create a scenic tableau.

It is not known when the banners were made, although both have the date 1900 embroidered on the back, which probably refers to the year of foundation. Despite not knowing the date, due to the fabrics and the design of the banners, it seems that the piece with no. of inventory 5981 is older than the other.

Also preserved are some penón ties (inv. MB 16172 to MB 16180) and some commemorative medals of the organization’s participation in various cantadas (inv. MB 4856-MB 4862, MB 5791-MB 5972).

 

 

Banner of the Sociedad Coro Marítimo Badalonés [1900-1950]
Embroidered silk fabric and trim. 107 x 95 cm
Inv. MB 5980. Donation of the Coro Marítimo Badalonés (1994)

 

Banner of the Coro Marítim Badalonés [1900-1950]
Embroidered silk fabric with trimmings
133 x 64 cm Inv. MB 5981
Donation of the Coro Marítimo Badalonés (1994)

Centre Catalanista Gent Nova

We continue our particular tribute to the different choral societies of our city, this time with a banner from the Center Catalanista Gent Nova.

Gent Nova was a Catalanist cultural and political organization from Badalona, ​​affiliated to the Unió Catalanista, founded in 1899 and dissolved in 1921.

It had a remarkable cultural and social importance in the city and recognized prestige among the people of Badalona. He promoted various activities, such as sardanas, musical evenings, conferences and the organization of floral games, among others. He also had political initiatives, such as the candidacies presented in the local elections of 1905 and 1911, the first to unseat the Caciquism of the City Council, and the second in harmony with the Catalan Solidarity movement.

In June 1921, as a result of internal dissensions due to the ideological evolution of the organization, the merger of the Orfeó Badaloní, an organization considered more conservative, which had been founded in the same year 1921, was made possible. The Orfeó Badaloní is he thus became the successor of the Catalanist center and inherited the premises, the archive and the modernist sign.

The Gent Nova sign was designed by the architect Joan Amigó Barriga and made by women from Badalona. The design won first prize in the competition for artistic flags and banners held in Sabadell in 1907. It is an exceptional piece of Catalan modernism.

Two standard ties are also preserved, one from 1906 (inv. MB 7868) and the other from 1918 (inv. MB 11786).

If you want to know more:

Antoni Bargallo “La senyera de Gent Nova de Badalona”. A: Carrer dels Arbres, no. 17, p. 89-96). 3rd period Museum of Badalona, ​​2006.

VIEW MORE DETAILS OF THE FLAG

 

Senyera de Gent Nova - s.XX - Museu de Badalona

 

Drogueria Boter awarded by the Catalan Chemistry Society

For a long time, the Drogueria Boter -opened in 1924, just a hundred years ago, and popularly known as Can Boter-, located on Carrer de Mar de Badalona, ​​has supplied the Museum with all kinds of materials and specialized products, especially intended for the conservation and restoration of the funds held by our institution. For this reason, we want to echo the recognition that Can Boter has recently received from the Catalan Society of Chemistry, which has singled it out as a historical site representative of chemistry in the Catalan-speaking territory.

Congratulations, Drogueria Boter!

 

 

Drogueria Boter. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

 

Museum’s opening hours. August 2024

During the month of August, the Museum of Badalona will be open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm.

The temporary exhibition BADALONA AND THE CATALAN PATIN can be visited, free of charge, during the same opening hours. Meanwhile the exhibition MUD AND FIRE. POTTERY IN BAETULO  will be closed until September 3rd.

The House of the Dolphins, the House of the Ivy and the Historical Archive will be closed during the month of August.

 

 

Gerard Sala, in memoriam

Gerard Sala i Rosselló (Tona 1942-Badalona 2024) has died. This artist can be considered to be from Badalona, ​​since he resided for many years in our city, although he spent long periods in Sant Joan de les Abadesses, where he had his workshop from the middle eighties

It was precisely in Sant Joan where, between March 9th and June 9th this year, you could see his last exhibition, which showed the pictorial work that, accompanied by a text, he had presented in 1985 as a doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, ​​where he was a professor. This thesis was a real innovation due to the fact that it gave pictorial practice a greater prominence than the theoretical study, and it obtained the highest qualification.

Dedicated mainly to painting and graphic work, but also to sculpture, scenography and poetry, Gerard Sala held about fifty individual exhibitions and participated in more than a hundred collective ones, some of international scope.

His work, which was the object of the interest of critics and scholars, can be found in museums and collections in different cities, such as Barcelona, ​​Girona, Sabadell, Ibiza, Madrid, Jaén and Seville.

At the Badalona Museum, which also preserves his work, he exhibited individually in 1985 and 2005 (in the latter case, a catalog was also published, entitled, like the show, Els ulls del mar). In addition, he is the author of the sculpture La porta del mar, which can be seen in Carrer de Sant Anastasi, and which was inaugurated in 2003.

Rest in peace, Gerard. We will miss you.

Suite horitzons del mar, 1974
Acrylic, pigments and lead pencil on Guarro watercolor paper, 59.5 x 48.5 cm
Inv. MB 8796

Banner of Societat Coral Els Aucellets

The Aucellets choral society was founded in 1924-1925 by a group of friends, residents of the riera de Sant Joan. As was common at the time, it was also a cultural and recreational organization that brought together the entire neighborhood in the events it organized.

During the 1940s and 1950s, at the headquarters of the Aucellets (in fact, at the headquarters of Los Pajaritos, since the Franco regime forced the Castilianization of the organization’s name) there was intense activity that went beyond concerts of the choir. Thus, the choir organized excursions, ping-pong and also chess championships; dances, carnivals, etc.

The entity lasted until the 1990s, but in practice, it had been slowly fading away for more than twenty years.

Ramon Queralt donated this banner and, also, the 12 medals that were preserved from various songs and events in which the choir had participated. These are mostly medals from the 1950s (inv. MB 9886 to 9897).

In addition, in 2011, Joan de Escalada donated a tie of the standard of 1931. He also donated three commemorative pictures of the entity: one from 1929, a picture of honor from the library of the choral society with the list of all the people who had donated books (inv. MB 14653); another from 1930, with the individual photograph of all the members of the organization (inv. MB 14654), and a third, from 1950, which is an honor roll made on the occasion of the choral society’s 25th anniversary (inv. MB 14652).

 

Banner of the Societat Corals Els Aucellets. 1925. Silk fabric with embroidery and trim
125 x 74 cm. Inv. MB 9695. Donation by Ramon Queralt García (any 2006)

 

Jordi Andreu Fresquet. In memoriam

Jordi Andreu Fresquet, painter and engraver known as Andreu Fresquet, died last Thursday, born in Badalona in 1940. Formed in Llotja between 1955 and 1962, he began exhibiting in 1959. In 1967 he traveled to Paris to continue -forming, and he lived there in May 1968, which would leave a deep mark on him. He gained international attention, especially in the United States, where he worked especially in the state of Florida, and his work can also be found in museums in South America and, within Europe, in Italy or the Museum of Art Contemporary from Barcelona.

Although he settled in Barcelona, ​​where he had a studio in the Gràcia neighborhood, he never left Badalona, ​​where he was born. In this sense, the individual exhibition that he held at the Museum of Badalona in 1987 stands out. On the occasion of this collaboration, the Museum acquired the self-portrait that we reproduce, a painting that recalls the style of Francis Bacon, who was his headline artist. Seven works by him are preserved in the Museum’s collections, and he is also the author of the cover of issue 9 of Carrer dels Arbres magazine (March 1980). In addition, at the moment, the family, to whom we offer our condolences, is considering donating part of his work to the Museum, as he would have wanted. Thank you for everything, Jordi Andreu Fresquet. Rest in peace.

VIEW COVER NUMBER 9 CARRER DELS ARBRES

 

Jordi Andreu Fresquet. Self-portrait. 1987. Acrylic on paper. 80 x 60 cm. Inv. MB 2395