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| Memory of a fidelity.
Balaguer and the Escola Pia (Religious School) |
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 27th of November
1999
27th of February 2000
"Memory of a fidelity. Balaguer and the Escola Pia" is a show that was
co-produced with the Escola Pia of Balaguer and responds to an important event in
the city: the foundation of the Escola Pia in Balaguer 300 years before.
On the 9th of
November 1699 the Balaguer town council and the Escola Pia signed an agreement according
to which the Piarists would become those in charge of providing primary education
in the city; since then the Escola Pia has been linked to the city in each and every
one of the political, social, economic and political events. These elements are the
pivotal points of an exhibition that goes over the history of Balaguer from the end
of the 17th century until the end of the 20th century. This is a subject that had
not been dealt with in Balaguer and which served to show the various possibilities
hidden within a museum facility and make possible the use of the museum as a facility
that connects directly with the diverse issues of the heritage.
With this show
an exhibition language that was totally different to what we were accustomed to was
opened up, something novel which includes approaches from the so-called "new
museology".
GENERAL PROPOSALS
From the very
beginning the option of a diachronic discourse was chosen and the division of the
exhibition space into an introduction and six chronological ambits. Different museological
resources as well as different levels of language and information are used to make
the show comprehensible.
- The guiding thread
is organised through chronological periods, always incorporating three levels of
information. The socio-economic and political framework, teaching and the physiognomy
of the urban landscape. Texts, engravings or photographs and objects are the material
foundation of the whole discourse.
- Each of the ambits
is dominated by an dramatisation that seeks to centre the spectator on one or various
determining aspects of the chronological moment to be described. These could be economic,
cultural, technological or political, and reinforce the ideas transmitted in the
general texts.
- The basic guiding
thread is accompanied by the commentaries of the members of a family, the Cassolas,
documented from 1588 and of which we know that our first personality, Josep Cassola,
was one of the main personages, a supporter of the archduke Carles of Austria during
the war of Succession. From this one on, all the personages are invented and male,
until arriving at the last, Anna Cassola, to reinforce the idea that after democracy
coeducation was introduced in the school and therefore, girls began to study in the
Escola Pia.
- The members of this
family explain what happens to them or what occurs around them, giving special emphasis
to the way of speaking in each epoch. They seek to be the elements that connect with
the playful side of the spectator, with the day to day aspect and not the academic
side of the discourse.
- The levels of information
are transmitted through general texts, large period photographic and/or printed reproductions,
placards of the objects with or without complementary information, and finally with
the information provided by the members of the Cassola family.
- Obviously, the texts
receive a treatment that permits relating the content of the messages at all times,
as well as their importance.
- The objects exhibited
can be gathered into two broad groups. In the first group important pieces that have
links with the socio-economic dynamic of the city, like the Green Book of the city
(Historic County Archive of Balaguer), the Chest of the three keys (mayoral office)
and the ancient canons of castle Formós. The second group is that in which
the pieces are closely related with the history of the Escola Pia of Balaguer, either
with the educational approach (text books, examinations, prayer books, etc.), or
with the most important personalities from the school such as father Roig, father
Profitós or brother Peralba (The flag of the choral group, archaeological
pieces, etc.).
- Finally, a central
ambientation is proposed around which the spectator can circulate, dedicated to ìour
classroomî. This has to be the space that at all times connects the spectator with
his or her schooldays. A school period that has passed and that has now disappeared,
and that therefore has entered the subconscious as history. In this, the idea is
to achieve that the generations of the seventies and before make an effort to ìrememberî
specific moments, the educational ones, while for later generations it is a point
of comparison between what was and the present day model.
AREAS OF THE EXHIBITION
1. Presentation
2. It is three-hundred
years ago now...
3. The Spanish and The Frenchies. Under a new dynasty
4. War against the Queen, war for the revolution
5. Long live the Republic!
6. If you are Spanish, speak Spanish
7. So many hours spent...
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