Carrer Oli was diminished due to the destruction to open Via Laietana; it had been a simple queue of the square of the same name, but it got worse after turning it into a pure dead end. It can only be entered through Mercaders, a noble street but which did not give it the source of life provided by Plaça Oli, which disappeared under the picot.
The square had become bustling after being enriched from the Middle Ages until the middle of the 17th century with the monitoring of weights and measures of oil. The square was excessively narrow and was enlarged without diminishing its intensity.
The alleys that converged on it injected life, for example Donzelles, which was famous with its ten meter: the narrowest in the city. El Guayaba, photographer and restaurateur Vidal Ventosa’s workshop, was nestled in that corner, animated by socialites: Picasso, Borralleras, Nonell, Jardí, Reventós and many others.
At the beginning of the 19th century, at Oli, 4, the Girona hostel was installed there, recognized as one of the best thanks to its interior dimension, which favored the efficient maintenance of the stagecoach service with this capital.
At the time, its architectural past was not valued, until, when the hostel was closed due to the devastation of 1908, it did not gain visibility until it hosted the Joan de Serrallonga art gallery, which successfully rehabilitated this ground floor. It deserved to enhance an entire almost intact structure of the 13th century, such as two large lowered circular arches resting on some worked voussoirs.
It was in 1974, after Aimé Maeght chose to set up his gallery on Carrer Montcada, when the area encouraged the opening of small rooms that exhibited the work of young artists who were already showing their ways. Llimós, Corberó and others promoted Mec-Mec, so named to ridicule that of the French merchant.
In Mater, today a museum on the ground floor of Oli, 4, the exhibition pays representative tribute to the local artists of the time. Take advantage of the visit to admire the formidable historical architectural structure, elements from other eras and even the exquisitely chiseled colossal piece of marble, despite the fact that it serves as a simple counter at a stall selling cod in the Santa Caterina market .