Cèsar Martinell i Brunet (

Valls Valls () is a city and municipality in the Camp de Tarragona region in Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital of the comarca of Alt Camp. In 2014, it had a population of 24,570. Valls is known for its calçots – a type of scallion or green onio ...

, 24 December 1888 -

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 19 November 1973) was a Catalan '' modernista''

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was part of the small and selected group of architects that were connected to

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

, his most important teacher. As a multifaceted person, Martinell was also a researcher and art historian. He became famous for the many wine cellars he made for the agriculture cooperatives of different towns throughout Catalonia, especially in the south, in the

Province of Tarragona Tarragona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lleida and Barcelona and by the Mediterranean Sea. The province's po ...

. These are known as "the cathedrals of wine".

Artistic style

El Pinell de Brai - Weinkellerei der Genossenschaft - Vorderseite

Cèsar Martinell artistic style was primarily

Modernisme ''Modernisme'' (, Catalan for "modernism"), also known as Catalan modernism and Catalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan cultu ...

, with some

Noucentisme Noucentisme (, ''noucentista'' being its adjective) was a Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that originated largely as a reaction against Modernisme, both in art and ideology, and was, simultaneously, a perception of art almos ...

. His masterpieces were his designs for

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

, which are called the cathedrals of wine (''les catedrals del vi'') due to their magnificence. The use of traditional architectural techniques and materials helped to build these monumental buildings. His wine cathedrals are located in several cities of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

such as Falset,

Nulles Nulles () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alt Camp, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of . The old winery of Nulles, also known in Catalonia as one of the Wine Cathedrals, was built in Modernisme and Noucentisme Noucentis ...

, Cornudella de Montsant, Montblanc and

Gandesa Gandesa () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Terra Alta, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. History In the place known as ''Coll del Moro'' there is an ancient Iberian archaeological site belonging to the Ilercavones tribe that ...

, and some of them can be visited. He also designed the

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

Cervera Cervera () is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain. The title Comte de Cervera is a courtesy title, formerly part of the Crown of Aragon, that has been revived for Leonor ...

and he managed restoration projects, such as the Basilica of Santa Maria in

Igualada Igualada () is a municipality and capital of Anoia county in Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Anoia River and at the western end of the Igualada-Martorell-Barcelona Railway. Igualada is the capital and central ...

Photo gallery

File:E06 Celler de la Cooperativa Agrícola, de Cèsar Martinell.jpg, Exterior of the cooperative winery in

, Terra Alta File:Celler_Gandesa.jpg, Interior of the

cooperative winery. File:Celler Cooperatiu (Gandesa) - 19.jpg, Interior of the

cooperative winery, another view. File:Nulles - Cooperativa vinícola.jpg, Interior of the

cooperative winery. File:Celler de Sant Cugat lateral.JPG, Winery cooperative of

Sant Cugat del Vallès Sant Cugat del Vallès () is a town and municipality north of Barcelona, Catalonia. Known as ''Castrum Octavianum'' in antiquity (which means ''the castle of Octavianus'') and as ''Pins del Vallès'' during the Second Spanish Republic, it is nam ...

, next to Barcelona.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinell I Brunet, Cesar 1888 births 1973 deaths Architects from Catalonia People from Valls Modernisme architects