The La Foneria building, an old cannon foundry located at the beginning of the Rambla in Barcelona, ??owned by the Generalitat for a few years, will house the new Digital Culture Center of Catalonia in 2027, after the remodeling of the building, which will mean a investment of 13 million euros.
After recalling that digital creation is one of the areas of culture that is expanding the most, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, said this morning at the presentation of the space that “if Catalan culture wants to continue expressing itself with the same potential, it must incorporate the elements of digital culture and for that we need tools, like this new equipment.
The Catalan president added that “La Foneria will also promote Catalonia as Europe’s audiovisual hub.”
For Aragonès, the building itself explains the history of Catalonia over the last 500 years: “from the foundry of Emperor Charles’ cannons, from 1714 onwards to the bell factory, then the headquarters of the Bank of Barcelona, ??which went bankrupt in the 1920s. and after the Civil War with military uses”.
Built at the end of the 17th century, the building was renovated in 1858 by the architect Josep Oriol Mestres.
In 1537, Emperor Charles V ordered the Consell de Cent to establish a royal cannon foundry on the Rambla and after the defeat of the Austrian troops in 1714, Philip V banned the local manufacture of artillery and the space began to produce bells. .
In 1844, the banker and politician Manuel Girona converted the building into the headquarters of the Bank of Barcelona and in 1858 he renovated it in a neoclassical style.
After the bankruptcy of the bank in 1920, it closed its doors until 1934 when it was used as the headquarters of the General Command of the Military Corps, and after the Civil War it became dependent on the Military Government, which installed a military pharmacy and offices.
In 2003, the Ministry of Defense, owner of the building, sold it to the Generalitat, and since then it has been in disuse.
The president added that “La Foneria will also be a gateway in the city center to Catalunya Media City, the great audiovisual and digital ‘hub’ of the Tres Xemeneies, which will function as a test bed and testing for projects that will later “They will be part of the great equipment of the Besòs”
“At the same time,” he added, “it will offer the contents of Catalunya Media City to citizens, taking advantage of its central location on the Rambla.”
Conceived as a meeting point for professionals, artists, researchers and students and an open door to digital culture for citizens with a specific look at the surrounding neighborhoods, La Foneria aims to “strengthen and consolidate the ecosystem of digital culture in Catalonia and turn it into a great showcase of digital creativity for the general public,” explained the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga.
The councilor stressed that “digital art, robotics, immersibility, artificial intelligence, metaverse, video games and virtual reality” will converge in La Foneria.
Garriga has listed some of the reference centers as models for La Foneria, including the digital culture facilities in Paris, Milan, Karlsruhe, Rotterdam and Linz.
With a rectangular floor plan, the La Foneria building, located at the beginning of the Rambla, has a constructed area of ??3,380 meters divided into five floors: ground floor, mezzanine, and three floors, of which the upper floor will be dedicated to services.
This building is listed as an Asset of Local Interest, according to the Architectural Heritage Catalog of Barcelona City Council.
Garriga has announced that “next January, the renovation works on the facade of the building will begin, and in 2024, tenders will be made for the renovation works on the interior of La Foneria”.
The tender for the façade rehabilitation works is already underway and will be carried out throughout next year, while the works inside the property are scheduled to begin in 2025, with the horizon of opening to the public in 2027.
