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I have photographed for Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia this fabulous sculpture built by Joan Baca and Pericot in Terrassa, in Vallès Occidental, made with columns from industrial warehouses in the textile sector.
It is located at the end of Cervantes Street, next to Ricard Camí Square, very close to the busy Rambla. It is a work of public art that goes unnoticed, but when you see it, it impresses.
Local artist, filmmaker and architect Joan Baca i Pericot was awarded the City’s Medal of Honor. Known as Jan Baca, he is the son of an architect, his profession too, but also a cartoonist, writer (his work La casa a mida won the Pere Quart d’humor i satira award in 1994) and film director, above all, of short films.
As we see in the photographs, the work is made with cast iron columns, which took advantage of the Albinyana Steam. There are a total of 27 pieces arranged geometrically.
The installation wanted to remember that the then Caixa de Terrassa was celebrating its 125 years of existence. In addition, it was linked to the construction of a new building also designed by Jan Baca and which was inaugurated in 2001.
The work pays tribute to Terrassa as an eminently industrial town, especially in textiles. In fact, Vapor Albinyana is a factory complex of buildings protected as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest, located in the center of the city.
The ships are the work of the architect Lluís Muncunill. The oldest building, a three-story building on the corner of Cervantes Street, dates back to 1883. It was built on the grounds of an old flour factory, which in 1882 was purchased and expanded by Ramon Albiñana y Ribas, from whom it receives name.
The sculpture combined granite, limestone and the cast iron of the columns in a work that was finished with an addition or appendix, the creation of local artist Robert Cabeza.