Agenda Barcelona

Catalunya mar enllà. Tres segles de marina catalana (s. XVIII–XX) aims to explain how a small country with scarce natural resources and a limited population at the beginning of the 18th century became an industrial power in southern Europe by the 19th century, and how maritime trade with the Americas contributed to this transformation. The exhibition also explores how trade and shipbuilding supported the major transformation and modernisation of Catalonia in the 19th century, and reflects on how people’s relationship with the sea has changed over time.

The exhibition begins at the start of the 18th century, when, after the War of the Spanish Succession, Catalonia saw all its governing institutions abolished and was left impoverished and devastated by war. Yet within just a couple of generations, the country experienced demographic and economic growth that not only allowed it to overcome stagnation but also to take a significant step forward. From the Junta de Comerç de Barcelona, founded in 1758, Antoni de Capmany—now regarded as a pioneer of European economic historiography—demonstrated through his historical studies that Catalonia had a deeply rooted tradition of navigation, trade and industry. This entrepreneurial spirit, now supported by a highly dynamic productive structure, made it possible to initiate a new cycle of progress and generate wealth across the territory. The country’s maritime past thus became an invaluable asset once again, and progress arrived, once more, by sea.

Among the most emblematic works from the Museu Marítim de Barcelona collection on display are the painting Nouvelle description de la Fameuse Ville de Barcelone cappitalle de la province de Catalogne (19th century); the model of the frigate Mataró, dated to the last quarter of the 18th century; the model of the frigate Barcelona from the second half of the 19th century; an 18th-century cargo transport chest; the model of the merchant frigate Diputación from the second half of the 19th century; a model of Ictíneo II made by the Museu Marítim workshop (1960); a spectacular scale model of the floating and depositing dock of the port (1929); the painting Moll de Sant Bertran, Port de Barcelona by A. Casals (1912); the model of the mail steamer Infanta Isabel de Borbón (1913); the Catalan fishing boat, or the Jean et Marie llagut, among many others.