Architectural Project
The museum’s permanent exhibition is the house itself and its restoration, with the aim of preserving and valuing heritage.
The idea of opening a house museum emerged from the experience of inhabiting this space, shaped by the souls and events that have unfolded here throughout its 700-year history.
MATER, an acronym for materiality and territory, is a collective project.
Its aim is to raise awareness of the tangible and intangible value, history and cultural flows of the building and its surroundings through initiatives that bring visitors closer to the territory in which it is located.
The temporary exhibitions are connected to this place, its history, landscape and people, as well as to other territories that share analogous characteristics in their ways of making, thinking and building, in relation to the space we inhabit.
The House Museum
The Casa Museu de la Plaça de l’Oli is located in one of the most historically distinctive buildings in the Santa Caterina neighbourhood, in Barcelona’s historic centre: the former Hostal de Girona.
It is a medieval house dating back to the mid-13th century, which still retains much of its original architectural character while also preserving significant Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features, among others. Many of these elements form part of the museum and can be visited within the building.
“The Casa Museu de la Plaça de l’Oli is located in one of the most historically distinctive buildings in the Santa Caterina neighbourhood, in Barcelona’s historic centre: the former Hostal de Girona.
Indeed, this is a medieval house dating back to the mid-13th century, which still retains much of its original architectural character while also preserving significant Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features, among others. Many of these elements form part of the building and can be visited within the museum.
However, the preservation and public dissemination of this architectural heritage are not the cultural institution’s only objectives. The Casa Museu de la Plaça de l’Oli also seeks to establish its presence in the neighbourhood and the city through a range of activities related to knowledge, the city and its people.”
– Reinald Gonzalez
