Anyone who has passed through Calle de la Palla knows that it is a traditional enclave of gallery owners, antique dealers and second-hand bookstores. What is not known is that number 21, the hospital for clerics with its chapel, was built in the 15th century. Sant Sever. This ecclesiastical institution remained under the control of the bishopric of Barcelona until the middle of the 20th century and then fell into disuse. After a long period of abandonment, the Gothic site was on the verge of becoming a luxury hotel that was never completed. That’s when Fernando Casacuberta acquired Sant Saver in 2009; In 2021, it was rehabilitated to become the Barcelona headquarters of its art collection.
Casacuberta’s collecting passion dates back three decades when he began acquiring works with his uncle Luis. His wife, Rosario “Coty” Marsans, and his four children participate in that passion, which includes three hundred works. “Until we couldn’t have exhibition spaces, we had the works in the family homes, like the summer residence in Pals,” says Coty Marsans. “My father and mother have transmitted to us the value of culture, we have traveled with them to go to auctions and visit exhibitions around the world,” adds Álvaro Casacuberta. A four-year period of works, starting from the Garcés -de Seta- Bonet architecture studio. Seventy years of abandonment had reduced the clerics’ hospital and its chapel to ruins: “The church was once covered in plaster and paint, now they are bare walls that serve as an adequate frame for the works on display,” notes architect Jordi Garcés. .
The new space houses 300 works of art
Of the three hundred works of the Casacuberta-Marsans Collection, the visitor will be able to see forty-six in arranged visits. The exhibition does not follow a chronological order, it is distributed according to thematic criteria in which pieces from different periods coexist. “The idea is that the works dialogue with each other, each one from its historical context and its forms of expression,” says Álvaro Casacuberta.
14th century artists such as Lluís Borrassà, Joan Mates or Jaume Serra share spaces with Ramón Casas, José Gutiérrez Solana, Isidre Nonell, Darío de Regoyos or María Blanchard. Of the works that cost the most to obtain, Álvaro Casacuberta highlights the staff from the Abbey of Silos, dated between 1160 and 1170: «When it was auctioned we still had it in the process of being studied so in the bidding we were not aggressive and in the end it was Another buyer took it… But months later we found out that an English gallery owner had it and this time we did not fail. There are only two staffs like this, ours and the one kept by the Abbey.
The Casacuberta Collection It is an example of private patronage and the happy rescue of historic buildings: “We want to be a space for cultural events, vary the collection with thematic exhibitions, lend work to other museums and encourage the study of Art in educational centers,” underlines the Casacuberta family. All this at number 21 Calle de la Palla. A treasure in the Gothic.
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