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262 RESEARCH Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya December 2017 Núm. 42 The Gallifa factories: a cross between a factory and an industrial colony t is true that industrialisa- ing this industrialisation that began Marina Cirera tion, its development and in a wider Catalonia. The corollary of Gaja influence – a process that factories and industrial colonies that MUSEU DEL TER A History graduate and began between 1830 and extends across various parts of Catalo- external collaborator 1840 – is one of the most nia’s interior remains a very significant of the Museu del discussed chapters in Cata- image in the region’s landscape and a Ter in research and dissemination tasks lan economic history. It is no less true heritage which, in many cases, is still since 2014. Author of the unpublished Ithat often the works that offer a “Cata- in the process of disappearing. work Una història a la intempèrie: la fàbrica lan” perspective on this topic are based i colònia de Gallifa, coordinated by Pere Casas. on the predominant and leading role of This article is a direct result of research Barcelona and its immediate surround- that proposes the recovery and analysis ings. However, the map of the main of the tangible and intangible herit- Keywords: Ter basin, industrial colony, industrial concentrations in Catalonia age of the so-called “Gallifa factories” Gallifa factories, oral history, intangible of the 19th and 20th centuries (Izard, located in the Ter basin, specifically heritage 1968: 42) shows the existence of other in the town of Les Masies de Voltregà Paraules clau: conca del Ter, colònia industrial, fàbriques de Gallifa, memòria centres which, in the mid-19th century, (Osona). They were a cotton yarn fac- oral, patrimoni immaterial tories which, following the trail of rural suggest an industrial reach beyond the Palabras clave: cuenca del Ter, colonia Barcelona area (Nadal, 1975: 198). industry, were established upstream industrial, fábricas de Gallifa, memoria oral, These are areas which, apart from the and remained in operation for almost patrimonio inmaterial Maresme, Baix Llobregat, Garraf and a hundred years, from the end of the Barcelonès areas, are not located on 19th century up until the last decade the Catalan coast, but in the so-called of the 20th century. The study is not “interior” or “hinterland” of Cata- limited to creating an inventory of the lonia. They include counties such as entire heritage that can be drawn from Anoia, Vallès Occidental, Bages, Alt these factories, rather it aims to give Penedès and Osona. In recent years, this heritage a wider dimension and to several studies and initiatives have been delve deeper into the historical reality it published with the aim of highlight- holds. In any case, it represents a micro- The article is about the Gallifa factories L’article gira entorn del model de fàbrica El artículo gira alrededor del modelo located in Les Masies de Voltregà and i colònia que presenten les fàbriques de de fábrica y colonia que presentan las the model of factory and industrial colony Gallifa de les Masies de Voltregà, així fábricas de Gallifa de Les Masies de Vol- they assume, as well as their role in the in- com del seu paper en el procés d’indus- tregà así como de su participación en el dustrialisation process of the Voltreganès trialització de l’àrea del Voltreganès. Per proceso de industrialización del área del area (Catalonia). The article explains the això es plantegen els vincles d’aques- Voltreganès. En este sentido, se plantean links these factories had with the area’s tes fàbriques amb el passat tèxtil del los vínculos de estas fábricas con el pa- textile past, their relationship with the territori, la seva relació amb els recursos sado textil del territorio, su relación con area’s resources, the morphology of the de l’entorn, la morfologia de colònia que los recursos del entorno, la morfología industrial colony they make up and how desenvolupen i la seva incidència en les de colonia que desarrollan y su inciden- they have affected the new ways of life noves formes de vida i en les transforma- cia en las nuevas formes de vida y en las and the socio-economic transformations cions socioeconòmiques de l’àrea en la transformaciones socioeconómicas del of the area in which they are located. qual s’inscriuen. área en la cual se inscriben. The Gallifa factories: a cross between a factory and an industrial colony RESEARCH 263 view of the national and continental fer from the most accepted models. shop known as Can Rovira and much phenomenon of industrialisation. The After all, trying to understand what earlier as Can Borra. However, the two reduction of the study scope, focusing type of factory-colony we are talking storage warehouses, the gatehouse and on the specific case of a textile factory, about means addressing the ways in the housing of a manager and of a lock- allows for a more in-depth look at which human activities on the land smith are still standing today – albeit everything that is developed around have adapted and developed and what in a somewhat advanced state of dete- it, the dynamics that develop and the ways of living derive from this process. rioration. Apart from all these spaces, impact all this has on peoples’ way of This is why it is necessary to raise issues the Gallifa factories also had a block life. The purpose of this approach is to such as resources, industrial origin and which housed the director of the la highlight what similarities and differ- socio-economic structures that are Vella factory and a house in the style ences exist between this specific case developed around these factories in of the usual master’s home, although and the more generic and “Catalan” question. it was never occupied by this person, statements regarding industrialisation, rather by the director of the la Nova fac- thus seeking to offer a more dynamic Heritage, sources tory. All of them were buildings next to view of this period of our history. and methodology the factories and, consequently, erected On 22 April 2014, the partial demo- right on the banks of the Ter, two kilo- When we talk about rural industrialisa- lition of the Gallifa factories began metres from the town of Sant Hipòlit tion – particularly understood in terms due to the bad state the architectural de Voltregà. The only architectural of the exploitation of the Ter and Llo- complex had been in for a long time. element that is still in good condition bregat rivers – the paradigmatic model The intervention affected the factories and still performs its original function for industrial colonies – developed, that had been the two most important is the three blocks of housing that were planned and autonomous – is often manufacturing sites and which housed built for the workers in these factories placed at the centre of the whole expla- virtually the whole production process. during the 1950s: the so-called Sant nation. This ignores the presence of These two buildings were given the Salvador Group. factories which, despite being located name la Nova – located in the north in the same river basins, adopted the of the complex – and la Vella1 – in the It is obvious, therefore, that when we factory system or urban factory model. It south –, and the Gallifa factories were talk about the Gallifa factories, we are also eludes to the existence of industrial always made up of two factories which faced with a case where much of the experiences that present other forms of were independent but had a particular architectural heritage is on the verge of development and organisation of the form of coexistence and operation. The disappearing. Disappearing at a similar industrial colony model. Besides being demolition also partially affected the rate is the so-called intangible herit- a few cotton yarn factories, the Gallifa space that for many years had been age, which in this case is essentially the factories gave rise to various residential occupied by the small weaving work- direct testimonies of the life of these spaces for their employees. In a way, factories: former workers as well as this brings the case of these factories closer to the category of industrial colony. However, the final form that they acquired, the organisation system they developed, as well as the reasons that impelled this development show a rather specific case of factory construc- tion. Gallifa is very far from examples such as the industrial colonies of Güell (Baix Llobregat), Ametlla de Merola (Berguedà) or Borgonyà (Osona), but in the long run this allows us to ques- tion whether Gallifa is an exception or whether it is consistent with other cases of the river Ter in Osona. Without try- ing to establish new models, the case of Gallifa highlights the existence of other Current appearance of a part of the Gallifa factories (2014). manufacturing arrangements that dif- MARINA CIRERA. PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION OF THE MUSEU DEL TER 264 RESEARCH Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya December 2017 Núm. 42 people with other significant links to factories remain untraceable and/or a supporting role. However, the in- Gallifa. Living memory is a unique have been lost. In this sense, the docu- depth study of the case of the Osona source of information about ways of mentation provided by the Mercantile region and in particular the Plain of Vic life and everyday life that is often left Registry and the Property Registry is shows that as early as 1831 there was out of documentary records. In addi- essential, as are different documents an important industrial concentration tion, in many cases it is through these obtained with statistical information in the region (Albareda, 1981: 54).

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