Puntos de Interés
Culture
Terrissa de Quart Museum
This remarkable museum was inaugurated on March 27, 2011. Documenting one of the most iconic crafts of Quart, today the museum dedicated to pottery is the main symbol of the town’s identity.
Nowadays, the old Santa Margarida o Can Ginesta tile factory, founded in 1908, houses this unique museum. The museum was previously located in Can Moisés, however, due to a torrential downpour the furnace was destroyed, forcing its relocation. At that time, Sant Feliu de Guixols was connected to Girona via a railway.
Through the various buildings that make up the tile factory, visitors can learn about the processes that were required in the task of tile production, such as the sifter, the raft, the Moorish over, the inverted flame and the smokestack.
The project of creating the museum began in 2004 and was undertaken over three town council mandates, with funding from the Government of Catalonia, the Provincial Council of Girona and the European Union. In the first phase, the site of the old Can Ginesta tile factory, founded in 1926, was recovered. Later, the porch was renovated and finally the new annex building was constructed, connecting to the roof via a footbridge.
Pottery has always been a defining characteristic of the town of Quart. It was traditionally passed from generation to generation. Today, the tradition continues thanks to the five families that continue to make pottery their way of life.
Traditionally, the potters in Quart worked with terra fumata (black) and terra vermella (red), which was extracted from a local clay pit. Later, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the production of terra fumata was interrupted and the raw material was brought in from Breda. In 1968, the production was taken over by the Bonadona family. Despite this, the pottery market was in decline and, naturally, production decreased.
The museum features a permanent collection that exhibits typical artefacts of black pottery art, such as the escalfeta (bed warmer), maridillos (braziers) typically used to put under bedding or inside the bed to warm the feet, and brescadoras (pots to make smoke used by beekeepers).