The Palace of the Marquis de Comillas , also called Moja Palace is a manor house Barcelona neoclassical style neoclassical found in the street Portaferrissa No. 1. It was built in 1774 by the Marquis of Moja and his wife María Luisa de Copons in the place occupied by one of the Puerta Ferrisa towers of the old medieval city wall. The architect in charge of the project was José Mas Dordal , author of the Basilica de la Merced, San Vicente de Sarrià and the episcopal palace. The works lasted 10 years, being finally inaugurated in 1784 .
It is currently the headquarters of the Board of Museums of Catalonia, an organism dependent on the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat de Catalunya and in its basement there is one of the Generalitat’s bookstores. It also houses the “Max Cahner” showroom.
Description
The Moja Palace is a neoclassical building, characterized by the sobriety of lines, the predominance of straight lines, geometric volumes and the absence of decoration, especially on the facades, where the vertical elements compensate for the architectural volume of the palace, its height reduced and landscape tendency.
In plan, the palace is characterized by its irregularity. A first body, the main façade, which overlooks Carrer de la Portaferrissa, contains the portal, with Baroque decoration, and the main staircase, which was reformed in the 19th century (1875). Once past the lobby, you enter the courtyard, with functions rather than a light door.
A second body, articulated around the large volume of the central hall, with rooms and alcoves on either side, forms the lateral facade of the Rambla. A third facade, on the north side, overlooked the disappeared garden, located on the first floor, and at the bottom of which the architect Rovira i Trias built a loggia with Corinthian columns and decoration of cooked earth (1856). The three facades were decorated by the Vigatà, although the one on La Rambla has been traditionally attributed to J. Flaugier. Today only the trace of the main façade is preserved.
The most notable element of the palace is, without doubt, the large hall, square and two stories high, which was a total innovation in eighteenth-century Barcelona. What gave it greater magnitude, however, were the murals that adorn it, the work of Francesc Pla, called “the Vigatà” (1743-1805), dating to 1791. The paintings, with great capacity to concentrate the expression of the characters in a few strokes, allude to historical and legendary scenes of the family Cartellà, owners of the house. On one side of the lounge is a small chapel, also decorated by the Vigatà. Other rooms in the house have paintings, some from the 19th century. On the other hand, Pere Pau Muntanya (1749-1803) painted the fountains of six halls.
History
The space occupied by the Moja Palace is, in Roman times, outside the walls of the Colonia Iulia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. So far no remains of possible agricultural production villas have been documented. The first historical references are found during the thirteenth century, when the construction of a new wall was proposed, which would protect the new neighborhoods that had been born outside the original nucleus of the city. It is during 1260, under the reign of James I, that begins to construct the mentioned wall, the total route was of 5,100 meters and closed an area of almost 1.5 km ². A total of 8 perimeter gates were opened: that of Sant Daniel, that of Campderà, (future new portal), that of Jonqueres, that of the Orbs (after the Angel), that of Santa Anna, also known as the Iron or of the Bergants, the one of the Boqueria, the one of Trentaclaus, or of the Ollers and the one of the Portaferrissa, in this door an iron bar was fixed that served to contrast one of the longitudinal measures.
The Palace was built in the later Baroque period, influenced by new aesthetic French trends related to return to classicism and sobriety of lines. Inside the building, it is worth to mention the Great Hall and the chapel, decorated with paintings by Francesc Pla. Peter Paul Mountain painted the balustrades of six halls of the Palace.
By its historical and artistic value the Palace has been declared National Cultural Heritage Asset.
La Rambla urbanization
In 1772 the Rambla was urbanized, military engineers made a rectilinear alignment from the church of Bethlehem to the Drassanes, avoiding the irregular route of the walls and it became an urban promenade bordered by palaces and representative buildings. Before this urbanization there were already houses attached to the wall. In the map made in 1772 by the architect Francesc Renart i Closes, the state of urban indefinition is seen where it is not known whether it is a glacier or a street.
Construction
The Palace that Josep de Copons i Oms, Marquis of Moja and his wife, Maria Lluïsa Descatllar, built on the tower and wall of the Portaferrissa. It was built by the architect Josep Mas i Dordal, who also built the Church of La Mercè, Sant Vicenç de Sarrià and the Episcopal Palace in Barcelona. The work began in 1774 and was inaugurated ten years later on the occasion of the engagement party of the eldest daughter of the Marquesses of Moja.
Josepa de Sarriera i de Copons, last member of the Moja i Cartellà, died in 1865 leaving no descendants. The palace was rented to the National Labor Promotion, from the palace campaigning for protectionism in 1869.
Antonio Lopez
In 1870, Antonio López y López, born in Comillas, Cantabria, made a fortune in Cuba and bought the Moja Palace in Barcelona, five years later, in 1875, which became his personal residence, making major renovation and decoration works. The old noble residence became a rich new residence. In 1878 was named Marquess of Comillas passing to be noble and senator. The entry of the Comillas-Güell family into the Palace of Las Ramblas, resulted in a baroque ornamental change by new French tendencies that proposed returning to classicism and regaining the sobriety of lines on the noble floor, making the rooms pink, blue and green.
The Marquis of Comillas was closely linked to the monarchy, and especially to Alfonso XII, who, after the Restoration, even slept in the blue lounge of the mansion. In 1891, the Marquis of Comillas installed on the second floor of the Palace the offices of the ‘ Trasatlántica Company ‘ of which he was founder and president, having the only route between Spain and Les Antilles. The Marquis was patron and protector of Jacint Verdaguer, who dedicated him to Atlantis. Mossèn Cinto resided on the second floor of the Comillas Palace between 1876 and 1891. He celebrated Mass for the family in the chapel next to the main hall. Famous visitors such as San Juan Bosco,Alfonso XII or Juan Carlos I, when he was a prince. Part of their gardens were used to build the SEPU warehouses.
The first Marquis of Comillas, had four children: Antonio, Claudio, Mª Luisa and Isabel married with Eusebi Güell (count of Güell). From that moment the Comillas and Güell families come together. After the death of the second Marquis of Comillas (Claudio), his brother-in-law, Count of Güell, patron of Gaudí, resided in the Palace. But it was his son, Juan Antonio Güell i López, who was mayor of Barcelona between 1930 and 1931, who put porches on the sidewalk of Las Ramblas to facilitate pedestrian access. Juan Antonio Güell i López, third Marquis of Comillas and second Earl of Güell, had two children, the eldest of which had the title of Count of Ruiseñada. The Palace becomes the residence of three nobles, Marquess of Comillas, Count of Güell and Count of Ruiseñada.
War and civil war
During the Spanish Civil War, the Palace became the headquarters of the CNT. In 1940, shortly after the end of the war and while the Barcelona Customs building is being restored, the offices go to the second floor of the palace. Later they were the offices of the ‘Transatlántica Company’ (for the second time), until its definitive transfer to the Place of the Duke of Medinaceli. The second floor of the building became the headquarters of Banco Atlántico, as the Marquis of Comillas was one of its founders. On the death of the third Marquess of Comillas in 1959, the Palace was in decline. In 1969 it was declared a monument of historical and artistic interest and a year later it suffered a severe fire that affected it very much.
In 1981 the Generalitat de Catalunya purchased the building and began its restoration. It is currently the headquarters of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage.
Generalitat
It is currently the headquarters of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat de Catalunya and on the ground floor there was one of the Generalitat’s bookshops and an exhibition room, which since December 2010 has been he named Sala Max Cahner in honor of the first Minister of Culture of the Pujol stage. The room closes in 2013.
In July 2014, the Department announced that it would open a space for the promotion of the Catalan cultural heritage, where the visitor could receive information on the heritage as a whole and purchase products or tickets for services related to monuments, sites or museums. The Space will present information on cultural heritage, highlighting its quality and diversity, and offering products, tickets and service packages related to the country’s heritage. To present the heritage of Catalonia, it will have audiovisual, interactive content and activities where the same visitors will be able to participate, in addition to a tasting space representing products of the oenological and gastronomic heritage of Catalonia, preferably the traditional and protected products, and a third space where you can buy gastronomy, oenology and merchandising products that are representative of the Catalan heritage. The new space will provide heritage information for both the tourist and local visitors. Thus, on the one hand, general information will be offered, of a promotional nature about the Catalan heritage aimed at the tourism that is coming to spend a few days in Catalonia to increase its knowledge of the heritage. On the other hand, the space will disseminate more specific information aimed at the people who have more time or the public in Catalonia, in order to increase both the knowledge and the visits to the whole of the Catalan heritage. In this sense, an artistic and historical account has been established, which articulates the heritage of the country and goes from its origins to contemporary.
Catalan Heritage House
In May 2016, the Moja Palace was opened. The Catalan Heritage House, on the ground floor. It is a space for the promotion of cultural heritage, material and immaterial of Catalonia. The project, developed by the Catalan Agency for Cultural Heritage of the Department of Culture and the winner of the public tender for the exploitation of space, Advanced Leisure Services, aims to show and explain the cultural heritage of Catalonia in a attractive environment for the visitor, taking advantage of its privileged location in the heart of La Rambla. There are two aspects to the information on heritage. A more general one, of a promotional nature, aimed at tourism that spends a few days in Catalonia, and that wants to increase the knowledge that this public has about the country. The other offers more specific information aimed at the Catalan visitor in order to increase their knowledge of the heritage and the possibilities of visiting it.
The Catalan Heritage House is a unique space located in the heart of Barcelona with an attractive storytelling where the history, heritage and the territory of Catalonia interrelate for becoming attractive to visitors. In an original way, the place integrates the different resources and attractions of the territory – monuments, historical accounts, characters, crafts, food, natural areas, among many others – to transmit the power and uniqueness of Catalonia.
Furthermore, in the Palace Moja technology plays a key role. Visitors can browse the history of Catalan heritage through tablets and touch screens where you can find information ranging from our origins to the contemporary. In this way visitors will discover unknown corners that now will want to visit. Therefore, in the Palace we have a Tourist Information Office where you can get information and book a visit to those places that you will want to go to, either the great icons of Catalonia of specific interest sites.
Not only that, if the visitor wants to buy proximity products related to different periods of the history of Catalonia he or she may do so in the shop of the Palace, where you can find a wide range of products of all kinds related to crafts, history, food and wine, books, etc. related to Catalan culture.
There is even a gastronomic space where, in a relaxed atmosphere, you can taste dishes linked to Catalan cuisine with organic ingredients and from the different appellations of origin in the country.
In this sense, an historical and artistic story was elaborated that articulates the heritage of the country from its origins to the contemporary, through 11 representative icons and seven “jewels of the Catalan museums” that show the rich heritage of the country and that they have been selected according to their historical significance, their tourist potential and the territorial diversity. The installation is organized into 3 spaces that complement and interact with each other under the same communicative and exhibition conception.
The main space is the promotion and purchase of heritage products, which illustrates this whole story of the history of Catalonia. Each of the historical periods is presided over by its identification icon and a map of Catalonia where other heritage sites are highlighted. Through new technologies, any visitor can access a much deeper and more detailed knowledge of these heritage spaces and buy products linked to historical periods: crafts, gastronomy, literature, music, wines and spirits, sweets, design and merchandise. The second space is for gastronomic tasting and the third is a tourism office specializing in cultural heritage.
Restaurant
Catalan cuisine supported by the whims of the Mediterranean climate – ever changing from rainy to arid – and by a changing geography that, in a few kilometers, goes from the sea to the mountains through a plateau, the products that reach the Catalan pantry allow unimaginable combinations. Fresh and succulent fish, rice, sweet fruits and dried fruits, poultry meat, sausages, wines, oils, cheeses … The corners of this country hide everything you can imagine. If you then add to this the human footprint, the legacy of Iberians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs; the arrival of American and Asian ingredients; and the genius shared by so many artists from this country, you will understand why, here, meat and fish can be combined in the same pot, why the most delicious dishes are also the healthiest ones, or why an idea as simple as spreading a slice of bread with tomato has become the national dish. You can discover and taste it all at Palace Moja!
Activity
Paint Nite is the perfect cocktail of creativity and conversation. Drink a glass of wine and create a painting. You don’t have to be an artist to be creative.
The International artist Jorge Egea will be the person who will guide you through an unforgetable night. Doctor in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona, he is also a professor at the Department of Sculpture at Barcelona University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and has worked on various occasions as a guest teacher at several European universities.
A strong presence on the international artist scene, Egea’s exhibition activity started in 1992; amongst his most noted shows he can count appearances in France, Italy, the United States and Japan. Similarly, he is an assiduous participant in art shows in Spain. His career has w
Giftshop
At the store of Palace Moja visitors will find a wide selection of products aied to very diverse interests, from a special Barcelona souvenir to a book specialized in the Catalan gothic period. The place allows you to make a trip through Catalan history that links product lines with historic periods and heritage icons. In the Palace you will live an authentic buying experience.