The CRAI Library of the Pavilion of the Republic (Pavelló de la República ( ca)) is an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

and

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

focused on the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...

, the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, exile from Spain during

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

and

Spain's transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of ...

. The library is one branch of the umbrella library, the "Resource Center for Learning and Research Library" (CRAI) of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

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 ...

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 ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, incorporating numerous branches dedicated to particular fields. The Pavilion library also has important materials on the

Soviet Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

and on the international political history of the twentieth history, particularly

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1996, the CRAI Pavilion Library incorporated the collections of the University and the Figueras Foundation. The library is housed in the Spanish Pavilion building, which was originally designed and built for the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937. The building was recreated in Barcelona in 1992.

The CRAI Library of the Spanish Pavilion in Barcelona

The CRAI Library ("Centre de Recursos per a l'Aprenentatge i la Investigació" (ca), or "Resource Center for Learning and Research") is a large, extensive library of the University of Barcelona supporting education and research. The branch library, the CRAI Library of the Pavilion of the Republic (CRAI Biblioteca del Pavelló de la República (ca)), has one of the most important collections in the world on Second Republic Civil War, Francoism, Transition and exile in Spain. The collections include the Catalonia and the International Center for Historical Studies, founded by Jaume Vicens Vives. The library is housed in the recreated Spanish Pavilion, originally designed and built for the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937.

History of the building

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the government of the Spanish Republic participated in the

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la vie moderne The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mu ...

, better known as the Paris International Exhibition of 1937. The outbreak of the war in 1936 had a clear impact on the Spanish exhibition, and drew significant international attention to it. The exhibition lasted from 25 May until 25 November 1937. The Pavilion was opened but not until July 12, and was located at Avenida del Trocadero near the pavilions of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Design

The project architect was the philosopher

José Gaos José Gaos (26 December 1900, Gijón, Spain – 10 June 1969, Mexico City) was a Spanish philosopher who obtained political asylum in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War and became one of the most important Mexican philosophers of the 20th cen ...

, curator of the flag; the painter

Josep Renau Josep Renau Berenguer (17 May 1907 — 11 November 1982) was an artist and communist revolutionary, notable for his propaganda work during the Spanish Civil War. Among his production, he is remarkable for his art deco period, his political pro ...

; and writer

Max Aub Max Aub Mohrenwitz (June 2, 1903, Paris – July 22, 1972 Mexico City) was a Mexican-Spanish experimentalist novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic. In 1965 he founded the literary periodical ''Los Sesenta'' (the Sixties), with edi ...

, who organized the contents of the exhibition pavilion and commissioned the construction of the building to architects

Josep Maria Sert Josep Maria Sert i Badia (; Barcelona, 21 December 1874 – 27 November 1945, buried in the Vic Cathedral), also quoted as José María Sert, was a Spanish muralist, the son of an affluent textile industry family. He was particularly known fo ...

and

Luis Lacasa Luis Lacasa Navarro (1899 – 30 March 1966) was a Spanish architect. His work in Spain and Paris before and during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) was rationalist and functional. He is best known as co-designer of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1 ...

. Audiovisual production was by

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

, appointed coordinator of the Propaganda the Information Service at the Embassy in Paris.

Architecture

Sert and Lacasa conceived the building of the Hall of the Republic as an empty container three stories tall. Due to limited time and building materials, many prefabricated panels were used in the creation of the building. The architects also had to adapt to building on an irregular terrain while preserving the trees already on the property. It had an area of 1,400 square meters. Paris expo 1937

Exhibits and collections

In the entrance of the building were posters, photographs, photomontages, proclamations, information panels, as well as art and craft sent directly from Spanish central and autonomous governments, as well as various unions. Many of the exhibits sought to educate how life was before and after the Spanish Republic. The first floor was devoted to information about the ongoing Spanish Civil War, while the second focused on the arts and popular sections. One of the attractions of the Spanish pavilion was the debut of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

's painting ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

'', the now-famous depiction of the horrors of war. Picasso had been commissioned to created a mural for the Exhibition. The work garnered mixed reviews. A large mural by

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

for the exhibit, entitled '' The Reaper'' or ''Catalan peasant in revolt'', was on the second floor. Painted with oil on the building's "celotex" insulation panels, the mural was lost or destroyed a year later after being transferred to Valencia. A concrete sculpture by

Alberto Sánchez Pérez Alberto Sánchez Pérez (1895, Toledo, Spain–1962, Moscow) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. He fought with the Republican Fifth Regiment in the Spanish Civil War. His painting, ''Toros ibéricos'' is in the Museo Arte Público de Madri ...

entitled ''The Spanish people have a path which leads to a star'', nearly 11 m tall, was displayed outside. Another sculpture was

Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...

's ''

Mercury Fountain A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with liquid metallic mercury ("quicksilver") rather than water. Mercury fountains existed in some castles in Islamic Spain; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in Córd ...

''.

The building replicated in Barcelona in 1992

With the Olympic Games of 1992, the City Council commended the architects Antoni Ubach, Juan Miguel Hernández León and Miquel Espinet by gifting them a replica of the Pavilion of the Republic that had been presented at the Paris Exhibition. A reproduction of Picasso's famous mural ''Guernica'' can be seen in its original location, on a wall of the open courtyard of the pavilion. In addition, in 2018 Miró's lost mural ''The Reaper'' was reproduced in black and white and placed in its original location of the Pavilion.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavello de la Republica CRAI Library University of Barcelona Libraries in Barcelona History of Catalonia