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In the historic context of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and the 1929 International Exhibition, it was decided to build a village in Montjuïc that would become a synthesis of Spanish architecture and a craft showcase for Spain. It was supposed to be demolished at the end of the event, but finally it was preserved after the impact it made and because of the many voices who spoke out against its destruction. It was planned as a group of frames drawn from Spanish popular architecture which would be incorporated in a kind of collage. The builders of the site, the architects Ramon Reventós and Francesc Folguera and the artists Xavier Nogués and Miquel Utrillo, tried to make a village where buildings representing the different regions of Spain would be reproduced.
The four professionals made several trips around Spain to collect pictorial material. Along the way, they made hundreds of photographs, notes and drawings that made it possible to choose the elements best suited to the idea they had to put into effect. In total, these “tourists” visited 1,600 towns and villages.
The intention was not to bring together a collection of masterpieces of Spanish architecture in the open-air museum. Instead, it was a matter of building a site that was a synthesis of monumental Spain. It was a way of having Spain in Catalonia.
In this sense, the now classic comment interpreting the site with Spanish nationalist political connotations is based on the idea which maintains that El Poble Espanyol reflects an image, spread during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, that tried to show Catalonia as being more involved in Spanish history.
Soledad Bengoechea
Further information:
BOHIGAS, Oriol & CARANDELL, Josep Maria & DOMÈNECH, Joan, et. al. El Poble Espanyol, Barcelona, Lunwerg Editores, S.A., 1989.
CAPEL, Horacio, La morfología de las ciudades, Barcelona, Ediciones del Serbal, 2005.
DOMÈNECH POLO, Juan & SALA ARLANDIS, Norberto, Guía del Pueblo Español, 1992.
ROVIRA, Josep M. “La funció segueix la forma: el Poble Espanyol de Montjuïc”, in "L’Exposició Internacional de Barcelona del 1929".
Arquitectura i arts decoratives, Barcelona, L’Avenç (Grans Temes L’Avenç, s.d.), pp. 37-49.
Diari del Poble, Barcelona, PEMSA. Monthly magazine, first issue, April 2004. Soledad Bengoechea, Historian
