Archives and museus: sources for research

Recently, researchers from the IGUEMUS project have delved into the analysis of the acquisition and heritage management policies of museums during the Spanish Civil War, through the study of museum and historical archives. The documentation preserved in these institutions constitutes a key element to reconstruct the circumstances in which many of the pieces that today form part of their collections were acquired. Among other aspects, the existence of pieces incorporated during this period has been investigated, as well as the documentation that allows reconstructing the events related to their entry.

Likewise, particular emphasis has been placed on tracking the traceability of emblematic pieces that are currently part of these museums or that, having integrated their permanent collections, have been returned in recent decades. These processes include its safeguarding, expropriation from its owners, or its incorporation through donations or deposits made by organizations that operated under the policies of the time, whether during the government of the Generalitat or under the Franco regime.

Among the most relevant advances of the IGUEMUS project in recent months, the research carried out at the Reus Museum and the Barcelona Maritime Museum stand out. Both centers represent paradigmatic cases of the heritage dynamics of the period.

On the one hand, the collection of the Reus Museum reflects an evolution marked by the political and social vicissitudes of the time, which illustrates the complexity of the local context during the Civil War. The study has made it possible to accurately document the transfer of pieces to safeguard deposits distributed throughout the territory, specifically to Can Pol de Montfullà (Bescanó). Likewise, more recent events related to the return or restitution of pieces to their original locations have been analyzed, mostly parishes in the same region.

On the other hand, research on the formation of the collections of the Barcelona Maritime Museum has been fundamental to understand the role of public institutions in the protection of maritime heritage within the framework of the guidelines of the Department of Culture and the policies of the Generalitat. . In this case, the diversity of mechanisms through which the objects entered, the people involved in these tasks and the origin of the pieces - coming mainly from religious spaces and private collections - have made it possible to make visible an emblematic case of the creation of a museum in full war. This study also highlights the complexity of the spirit of republican safeguarding and the subsequent propaganda use of these thematic museums by the Franco regime.

These investigations complement the established objectives of the IGUEMUS project, allowing us to expand knowledge about the history of Catalan museums and the cultural heritage they guard.

Adrià Vázquez Vives, researcher of Institut Català de Recerca en Patrimoni Cultural

Bibliography:

DOMÈNECH i CASADEVALL, Gemma (2024). «Configuración y disolución del depósito artístico de Montfullà (Girona)», La herencia envenenada. El periplo de las colecciones artísticas y científicas en Cataluña después de la Guerra Civil, Valencia: Tirant humanidades (en premsa).

CABALLÉ, Eduard; VÁZQUEZ, Adrià (2024). «El impacto de la Guerra Civil en la creación del Museu Marítim de Barcelona», La herencia envenenada. El periplo de las colecciones artísticas y científicas en Cataluña después de la Guerra Civil, Valencia: Tirant humanidades (en premsa).

Photo: Arxiu General de la Diputació de Barcelona, Q-274, Expedient Museu Marítim de Catalunya, 1937.