Catalonia - Art and Culture 2018

A majestic facade, large ogival arches, and a unique combination of stone, open brick work, and ceramic; the building which is now home to the winery of the Espluga de Francolí Agricul- tural Cooperative, (built in 1913 and now known as the Wine Museum), is just as impressive as a baroque temple. Therefore, when the poet and dramatist Àngel Guimerà visited the place, he defined it as a ‘cathedral of wine’. The expression caught on and was soon also applied to other wineries appearing in the early 20th century. To know why the modernista buildings devoted to transforming grapes into wine proliferated in this way, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of a Catalan wine pro- ducer of the late 19th century. A plague from America, phyloxera, had forced him to pull up all of his vines and replace them with immune varieties, which would begin to become pro- ductive after a few years. Realising that it would be impossible to survive such a large problem alone, he began to associate with others in the same situation. This gave rise to a multitude of It looks like a church, but it is a winery. The wine cooperatives took the architectural marvels of modernisme into the country. THE cathedrals of wine

Factories of all kinds open their doors to the public. Once inside, you can see how cava is made... or how a film is shot. discover the secrets of THE industry Golden bunches ready to be picked hide amongst the leaves of the vine. They wait for visitors strolling amongst the vineyards to dis- cover them. They will better appreciate the magical process of this sparkling wine. They are in Cavas Vilarnau, in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia (Costa Barcelona). Others have preferred to enjoy the aroma of the cocoa bean on a visit to the Espai Xocolata - Simón Coll, also in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, in which they will discover how chocolate in almost all of its forms is pro- duced. Many food companies in Catalonia encourage citizens not only to consume their products, but also to visit their factories to see how they are made. Some, like Torrons Vicens in Agramunt (Terres de Lleida), use the latest technologies to describe the history of the master nougat ma- kers. Visitors can also see biscuit factories, breweries, fish farms, and more. All open their doors to whoever wants to know where the products on their table come from.

© Imagen M.A.s.

© oriol llauradó

cooperatives with sufficient resources to build new wineries with modern facilities and ma- chinery. Architects like Cèsar Martinell, a student of Gaudi, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and Pere Domènech i Roura, son of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, built impressive buildings in Mont- blanc, Santes Creus, Falset, Gandesa, and Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, to name just a few Catalan wine areas. the force of bubbles It was precisely in Sant Sadurní, the Mecca of the Catalan sparkling wine, where a modernista architect who had already created outstanding works in Barcelona, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, was commissioned to create a complex that would reflect the size of the company Codorníu. Here visitors can disappear in the labyrinth of under- ground galleries in which the Catalan cava slow- ly and silently rests. Sooner or later, they will see a series of buildings where the style of the archi- tect is clearly recognisable.

Popular culture is also accessible thanks to places such as the Toni Mujal sculpture work- shop for giants and festive figures, in Cardona (Paisatges Barcelona), where it is possible to see how a giant or a legendary dragon is born. It is even possible to visit the plateaus of the Catalonia Audiovisual Park in Terrassa (Barce- lona), which are open to the public to have some of the most exciting experiences of the cultural industry.

interior of the cathedral of wine in Pinell de Brai.

the factory of torrons vicens, in agramunt,

and sweets in the espai xocolata simón coll, in Sant sadurní.

8

points of interest form the Route of the ModernistA Wineries.

© marc castellet

28 /

/ 29

Discover Catalonia

Heritage and Identity