{"id":42458,"date":"2025-07-14T13:29:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museuart.cat\/history\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:17:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:17:48","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/museuart.cat\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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History<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Girona Art Museum<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Girona Art Museum was founded in 1976 as the sum of two remarkable collections. It is located in the old Episcopal Palace, one of the most noble and spectacular buildings in Girona. The Art Museum also manages the heritage complex of the Old Hospital of Santa Caterina, which houses one of the best-preserved hospital pharmacies in Europe. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The grouping of the various foundational collections, as well as the growth in recent years, means that the Art Museum today has 13,753 catalogued works, which makes it one of the most numerous and richest collections in Catalonia.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Art Museum was founded in 1976, when the Girona Provincial Council signed an agreement with the Diocese of Girona, bringing together the collections of the Provincial Museum of Antiquities and Fine Arts and those of the Diocesan Museum of Girona.<\/p>

The Provincial Museum of Antiquities and Fine Arts was created in 1845 to safeguard works of artistic and archaeological interest, as well as the architectural remains of buildings secularized following the confiscations. It was inaugurated in 1870 within the monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, which today houses the headquarters of the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia in Girona. <\/p>

For its part, the Diocesan Museum was created almost a century later, in 1942, under the tutelage of Bishop Josep Carta\u00f1\u00e0. The main holdings were art and archaeology collections gathered by Canon Ramon Font and Father Pere Valls, which had been exhibited in the Throne Room of the Episcopal Palace since 1929. <\/p>

In 1992, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya assumed the management tasks of the Art Museum, which until then had been assumed by the Girona Provincial Council. In 2009, the same Department ceded a space on Ciutadans Street that would be the future headquarters of the Friends of the Art Museum. <\/p>

In 2010, the MNAC deposited the painting The Great Day of Girona (owned by the MNAC), which was permanently installed in the Josep Irla Auditorium of the Old Hospital of Santa Caterina. Three years later, the old pharmacy reopened to the public, under the management of the Museum of Art. <\/p>

In 2014, the Museum effectively joined the Catalan Agency for Cultural Heritage.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Episcopal Palace<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Episcopal Palace is the headquarters of the Art Museum and one of the most noble and spectacular buildings in Girona, having been the headquarters of the diocese and the residence of the bishop and his curia, in addition to serving as a prison.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Ecclesiastical Court had its headquarters in the building. Clergymen convicted of various sins and crimes were imprisoned in the prison, which still exists. The prison was a cozy space compared to other prisons of the time. It was not a dark and damp “dungeon”, almost underground, but was located on the fourth floor of the main tower, offering the condemned wide views over the city. There is also evidence of the existence of a fireplace for the inmates to warm themselves. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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This is its history, in the form of a brief chronology:<\/p>

The first documentary reference is in the year 988, when Bishop Gotmar bought a house from Count Borrell that faced the palace, of which no identifiable remains remain.<\/p>

From the episcopate of Guillem de Peratallada (1161 – 1168) a new palace was built. Then, throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the complex took the form of a real castle or fortified palace, and some emblematic spaces were built, which today form part of the offices and permanent exhibition rooms of the Museum. From this period, the galleries with semicircular arches, the crown windows, the two towers and the Throne Room stand out. <\/p>

In the 16th century, various Renaissance-style extensions were carried out. The initiative of some illustrious bishops led to the elevation of existing buildings and the opening of numerous large and tall windows, where the heraldry of the promoters was represented. While it increasingly resembled a palace, the interior took on a markedly residential character. <\/p>

In the 17th century, efforts were concentrated on building the sector facing Pla\u00e7a Lledoners. During the Napoleonic sieges (1808 – 1809) the Palace was seriously damaged. After the conflict, it was restored and expanded to its current size. <\/p>

At the outbreak of the Civil War (1936), the bishop abandoned the building and considered converting it into a People’s Museum. After the victory of the rebels (1939), it regained its original function as Episcopal Palace. <\/p>

In 1973 it ceased to be the bishop’s usual residence, as he gave up occupying it and moved to a private rented home. Between 1979 and 1991, a first phase of renovation and remodeling was carried out and the first installation of the Art Museum, with its current name, was carried out. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Antic Hospital de Santa Caterina<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The origins of the preserved building, from the 17th century, must be sought in the early 13th century, when the most important hospital for the poor in the city was founded by popular initiative, close to the current one, but further away from the center of Girona.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The chapel of Santa Caterina was built next to the hospital, which from ancient times remained associated with the previously known “New Hospital”, and gives it its name. Numerous donations led to the expansion and embellishment of the complex throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1571 it was named a royal hospital by Philip II. <\/p>

In 1654 it was decided to demolish the original hospital and move it to a larger site. In 1666 the first stone of the new building was laid, which would eventually become the current one. The new complex had larger and more varied spaces, and a new pharmacy. In 1765 the House of Mercy was built and in 1785 the House of Convalescence was annexed. <\/p>

The pharmacy is considered one of the most notable complexes of the 17th and 18th centuries, along with the pharmacy of Ll\u00edvia. Unlike the latter, which served the entire population, the one of Santa Caterina was a hospital pharmacy. It is located on the ground floor of the building, with direct access from the interior courtyard. The room, rectangular, is covered by a ribbed vault decorated with allegorical paintings from the 19th century which in turn cover other earlier mural paintings from the Baroque period. <\/p>

Among the preserved furniture, a cordialer (a type of cupboard) built into the set of shelves, where the most valuable medicines were kept, stands out. The pharmacy houses a collection of more than 300 white glazed ceramic jars (mostly dating from the 17th and 18th centuries), as well as various mortars, blown glass jars and wooden containers, among others. The library is also noteworthy, which contains numerous treatises related to medicine from the medieval period to the mid-20th century. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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History The Girona Art Museum The Girona Art Museum was founded in 1976 as the sum of two remarkable collections. It is located in the old Episcopal Palace, one of the most noble and spectacular buildings in Girona. 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