Reus has closed the Any Domènech i Montaner with some fifty activities and more than 25,000 visitors to commemorate the centenary of the death of the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (Barcelona 1850-1923).
Councilor Noemí Llauradó has stated that “this has been one of the most important city projection actions” that the capital of Baix Camp has had, both in terms of tourist and economic impact.
In this sense, the Reus City Council highlights the historical recreation festival ‘Reus 1900. Modernist Festival’ as one of the most relevant events in the commemoration of the centenary of the death of the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner in the city. It was held in April and around thirty entities and companies participated.
After the Domènech i Montaner Year, Reus will join in January the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the death of Mariano Fortuny, an artist who covered fields as diverse as painting, sculpture, engraving, photography, design textile and fashion and amateur cinema.
The warehouses of the Casa Gasull in Reus, a building built by Domènech i Montaner in 1911, have been the setting chosen to put an end to the commemoration of one hundred years since his death. In fact, this Any Domènech i Montaner has served to reopen that emblematic space that is normally closed to the public.
The mayor of Reus, Sandra Guaita, has stressed that although the architect was not born in the city, he is considered “adopted son of Reus” for “the indisputable mark he left in the form of buildings.” In addition to the Casa Gasull, Domènech i Montaner also built the Casa Navàs, the Casa Rull, the Institut Pere Mata and the Margenat chapel located in the Reus cemetery.
“Thanks to Domènech’s work we also know how the citizens of Reus lived,” stressed the Councilor for City Projection and president of the Tarragona Provincial Council, Noemí Llauradó. Some words that Guaita has also shared, who has celebrated the existence of the commemoration years.
According to the mayor, they serve to explain “the historical moment that the city experienced and reflects to us what we were at that time and what we are currently.” “Reus has become the city it is thanks to what it was at that time, the second city of Catalonia,” she concluded.
Among the fifty exhibitions, cycles, workshops and conferences that have been organized within the framework of Any Domènech i Montaner in Reus, the council has also launched a series of initiatives with a “vocation for continuity and future perspective”, among them the expansion in the explanation of the figure of Domènech i Montaner within the Modernism Route, the creation of a new immersive space that precedes the visit to the Pavilion of Distingits of the Institut Pere Mata and the model of the project of this building.
