Twenty-five 16-year-old students of 1st year Baccalaureate in art (class E) took part in a modernist art route along the streets of Tortosa on Thursday 16th December. They started at the beautiful Slaughterhouse, one of the greatest modernist buildings in Catalonia. They went on to see and analyse the Montagut palace, the restored Grego house, the former ‘Siboni fonda’ in Angel Square, the Brunet house (another gorgeous building), the Bau house, the former Sabate hospital and the municipal Market. They were given proper information about them in English. They were also told about architects Joan Abril Guanyavents, Pau Montbrió and Cèsar Martinell, who had been genius Antoni Gaudi’s disciples, who were the ones who worked in different places in Terres de l’Ebre such as Terra Alta county council. Teachers Emigdi Subirats and Pep Pinyol were explaining carefully what modernist meant for the new emerging town of Tortosa at the beginning of the XX century.
Modernism was an important movement in Tortosa, headed by two key architects, Pau Monguió and Joan Abril, who would spark an architectural, social and technological awakening in the city in the early 20th century. Following the demolition of several sections of walls at the end of the 19th century, the expansion district was constructed. Bourgeois families, some with links to industries that played a major role in the city’s economy, built houses there.
