MUSEUM OF THE SAINTS - MUSEU DELS SANTS
Go there and contact
Museum with the objective of organizing the various workshops of crafts of holy figures of the city.
The Museum of the Saints was founded in 2007 with the aim of organizing the town's various saint workshops. This activity has been practiced in Olot for over a century, and has been one of the key sectors in the development of its economy. At the beginning of the 20th century, the town counted as many as fifty workshops providing a livelihood for 1,000 people. Although this is no longer the case today, 80% of the sculpted figures paraded in the Holy Week Passos are still produced in Olot. The museum is housed in a neo-Gothic building designed by modernist architect Joaquim Codina i Matalí, which was the city's first Christian art studio, founded by Josep Berga i Boix, Joaquim Vayreda and Valentí Carrera in 1880. On display on the second floor are ancient and contemporary saintly figurines and sculptures, as well as the famous gegants (giants) by Miquel Blay and Celestí Devesa that are still paraded in processions (dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries). On the first floor and basement levels, an entire section of the museum is devoted to explaining the manufacturing process of the saintly figures, with adjoining rooms where the workshops are now located. During your visit, you can see the craftsmen at work and admire some very fine nativity scenes. We recommend you watch the short video presentation before starting your visit.
