Núria Sadurní, technician of the Museum of Badalona, invites us to discover one of the most unique – and refined – pieces in the Museum’s permanent exhibition, dedicated to the Roman Baetulo: the oscillum. A decorative object from the 1st century AD, made of marble and closely linked to Bacchus, the god of wine and theater.
Esther Espejo, technician of the Museum of Badalona, invites us to take a look at the collection of ointments from the permanent exhibition of the Roman Baetulo. A common object in Roman homes, our ancestors used unguentarium in two of the most important rituals of their daily lives: the ritual of body worship, as hygiene and physical health, and the ritual of funeral worship, as a sample of respect for the dead.
Dolors Nieto, head of the conservation and documentation department, invites us to discover a set of socarrats (clay tiles), completely unknown, which is part of the collections of the Museum of Badalona.
They are pieces of baked clay, covered by a layer of lime and with a schematic pattern made of iron oxide. These pieces were placed on the ceiling between the beams. Dating from the 16th-17th centuries, they come from the Can Bofi Vell farmhouse, a country house with a defense tower, located in the highest part of the Sant Crist district, which almost disappeared in the eighties due to its abandonment and due to being located in the area of the industrial site of Batllòria Montigalà.
They are modest, honest pieces, with a very simple decoration as were many of the farmhouses of Badalona, a heritage little considered and almost disappeared.
Clara Forn, archaeologist at the Museum of Badalona, explains the peculiarities of one of the last pieces that have become part of the Museum’s archeology collection. A unique and very special piece that was discovered on February 10th, 2017 in the intervention on the side of the C31 Motorway that provided unexpected results for Badalona archeology. The beauty of his face and the elegant stroke evoke the daily splendor of some of the inhabitants of Baetulo.
Montserrat Carreras, head of the Historical Archive of the City of Badalona, discovers us the figure of Pau Rodon i Amigó (Badalona 1870-1950) textile technician, teacher, publicist and bibliophile, based on the full-length portrait that Francisco Morillo painted in the early twentieth century.
Esther Gurri, technician-archaeologist from the Department of Archeology of the Badalona Museum, shows us a little-known piece from the Museum, despite being one of the most outstanding pieces in the permanent exhibition. It is a sculpture of a bust, of great artistic quality, of marble that has come to us a little deteriorated, in it we can see reflected the sculptural realism of Italic influence but also the Hellenism, which leads us to date the piece between 60-40 BC. This piece would be part of a funerary monument and it should be noted that this is one of the few female portraits of this period in Catalonia.
Margarida Abras, director of the Museum of Badalona, explains us the fragment of the cover of a sarcophagus from the time of the first Christians, and clarify why it is one of her favorite pieces of the collections that the Museum preserves.
Next Monday, May 18th, is International Museum Day (IMD), and to commemorate it, the Museum of Badalona has made some heritage pills that will be shared on the web and social media profiles over the coming days 16th, 17th and 18th.
The exceptional health emergency we live in made us close the doors of the Museum. We are now opening a digital window that will allow us to discover, in a close and direct way, some of the most outstanding pieces of the Museum, and to know both the value of the collection that the Museum preserves and the curiosities and anecdotes that are related to it.
This different way of approaching heritage can never replace the direct experience of visiting the Museum, but it allows us to continue educating, and to invite listening and dialogue. An interesting prescription in times of pandemic, which will surely make us happy for a while.
During this week the Museum of Badalona also participates in the MuseumWeek, a global online event in which cultural institutions and companies from all over the world have a voice, and which consists of sharing every day a piece of the Museum’s collection related to a specific topic.
We hope to see you!
MARBLE SARCOPHAGE FRAGMENT
OLD WOMAN’S HEAD
PORTRAIT OF PAU RODÓN
HERMA OF THE GOD BACCHUS
THE SOCARRATS OF CAN BOFÍ VELL
BAETULO’S OINTMENTS
THE OSCILLUM OF BADALONA
EXHIBITION THE GREAT ILLUSION. THE CINEMA IN BADALONA 1898-1975
From the Museum we are working to provide you with new resources that allow you to make inquiries from home to publications and documents from the Historical Archive and the newspaper archive. In this sense, since February, you can consult all the issues of the magazine El Eco de Badalona, the first local publication in the city. To this resource, which has already been used by more than 2,800 people, is now joined by the digitization of the fortnightly magazine Comarca Expres, which you can find from today in the Online Resources section of this website.
Founded in 1976, this publication covered the political, social, labor and cultural information of the towns of Badalona, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Montgat and Tiana. Although it had a very short life – only 14 issues were published – its reading allows us to reconstruct very well how the first months of the Transition were lived in Badalona and its surroundings. It also stands out because some journalists who later became well known collaborated, such as Enric Juliana, Enric Giralt, Manel Armengol (who became famous as a photographer), Joan Roure and Joan Josep Montornès.
Confinement gives us the opportunity to test our culinary skills so we think it is the best time to share with you one of the most popular recipes among our Roman ancestors: the Epityrum.
Bon appétit!
