5 Oct 2010
Museu Romàntic
C. Sant Gaudènci, 1. 08870 Sitges.
Telf. 93 894 29 69
A Town Mansion
The Museo Romántico is located in the old Llopis family home, built in 1793 outside the medieval walled enclosure. For many years, it was one of the most impressive stately mansions in the new extension of Sitges. It was home to several generations of the Llopis family, a family whose wealth and status had been transformed. From local fishermen they became affluent traders in wines and spirits.
Can Llopis achieved its peak during the second third of the nineteenth century, when the homeowner was Bernadí Llopis i Pujol (1814-1891), one of the most influential and appreciated men of nineteenth-century Sitges. It was during this period that the post office was installed in the basement of the mansion. The mailbox, in the form of lion’s head with an open mouth, can be found next to the main entrance.
In 1935, the last heir to the family estate, diplomat Manuel Llopis i Casades (1885-1935), gave the house to the Catalan government to turn it into a museum. The Civil War interrupted the process until, in 1943 his executors offered his legacy to Barcelona Council. After a series of reforms in 1949, the public rooms were opened and, later, the ground floor, garden, cellar and library were also opened to the public.
A walk through the nineteenth century
The sobriety of the building’s exterior decoration offers a complete contrast to the busy interior, which provides the visitor the opportunity to step back in time and become immersed in the everyday environment of a wealthy family in the nineteenth century.
Throughout the various rooms on the ‘Noble Floor’ (the music room, ballroom, dining room, bedrooms) one can see evidence of a variety of styles, wall paintings, porcelain from Saxony, glass from Murano and Bohemia, musical instruments, watches and numerous personal items. You can also see the evolution of different lighting systems that existed in the XIX century; in particular the change from candle lighting to the advent of gas lighting.
The first floor gallery and garden are two of the most attractive and evocative places to be found in this house. In the gallery you can see two walls decorated with childhood scenes and, on the flooring, a Bis Bis from the Napoleonic period, a game consisting of forty-nine polychrome tiles. This is evidence of how Llopis and his guests would spend their free time.
The wine cellar also deserves particular attention as it was here where Llopis developed what became his famous Malvasia. Today, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist owns both the brand and the vineyards which it inherited from the last heir of Can Llopis, whose desire it was to keep the institution growing and to ensure the quality of the Malvasia from Sitges.
Lola Anglada’s dolls
The second floor of the Museo Romántico, formerly the home of the service personnel, has, since the 1960’s, been home a the curious collection of dolls donated to the museum by writer and illustrator Lola Anglada Barcelona (Barcelona, 1892 – Tiana, 1984).The collection contains more than four hundred dolls from various countries. The oldest example is from the seventeenth century, the rest being from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There are wooden, paper mache and porcelain dolls, and some are equipped with mechanical music and movement.
The Lola Anglada Collection is not the result of a search for unique pieces, but the sentimental desire to retrieve the gestures and costumes of nineteenth century society.
