The Catalan Roma people have their own history, but it has often been left out of the official narrative. To make it visible and give it the value it deserves, the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (MHC) presents the exhibition El poble gitano de Catalunya: història i cultura. It is the first time that a public institution has dedicated an exhibition of this magnitude to explaining the legacy and culture of this community, in an open and testimonial way. The initiative is the result of direct collaboration between the MHC and the Roma community of Catalonia, which has been an active part in all stages of the project.
The exhibition is born within the framework of the Roma People's Year 2025, coinciding with two key anniversaries: the 275th anniversary of the Barón Estradipen (the Great Raid of 1749) and 600 years since the arrival of the Roma people to the Iberian Peninsula. The exhibition, which can be visited until August 2, 2026, travels from the ancient East in the Balkans to our territory, and from the European Middle Ages to the present day, and denounces and highlights dark episodes that cannot be forgotten.
The tour explains six centuries of the Roma people's presence in our country, with historical rigor, testimonies, and avoiding stereotypes or victimhood. For the curator and activist, Mercedes Porras, it is an opportunity to "explain our past with our own voice and build a future based on respect and equality".
The voice of the protagonists
The narrative gives a direct voice to Roma men and women and invites the public to reflect on structural anti-Romani sentiment and the need for recognition and symbolic reparation for the legacy of this people. For the director of the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, Jordi Principal, it is "an exercise in historical memory and a way of looking at Catalonia with other eyes."From their arrival in the 15th century to the present day, Roma men and women have suffered persecutions, discriminatory laws, and attempts at assimilation. Even so, they have kept alive their own resilient culture, which has left a deep mark on the country's art, language, music, and daily life.
The exhibition is the result of an extensive participatory process with the Catalan Roma community, energized by the MHC team, led by Raquel Castellà, coordinator and documentalist of the exhibition: "The mediation work has been key to creating this exhibition, which is the result of a constant dialogue with the community that has allowed us to build a rigorous, plural, and shared narrative. The contributions of the community have been essential to give authenticity to the exhibition's narrative. Each testimony is a unique piece of the puzzle, narrated in their own words and with the particular wisdom of those who have lived it. The community has asked us for a living exhibition, where people are the protagonists and speak to us in the first person."
The project has involved the direct participation of more than 160 oral testimonies collected throughout the territory. Roma men and women tell their stories, memories, and dreams in the first person, turning the exhibition into a space for listening and mutual recognition. It is a living and participatory exhibition, in which people are, truly, the protagonists.
An immersive journey
Among the most unique spaces is the immersive and sensory installation dedicated to the flamenco tapestries of "The History of Carrabara, called of the Egyptians",a series of seventeen tapestries woven between 1500 and 1520, which portray the arrival and settlement of Gypsy groups in Europe.The pieces allow visitors to delve into and understand how the image of the Roma people has been forged in the European imagination.Another interactive area allows exploring the data collected by Bernard Leblon, one of the main scholars of Gypsy persecution in Catalonia. Through digital resources, the public can navigate databases of Gypsy men and women repressed during centuries of legislation, censuses, and documents that reveal the magnitude of the control and repression experienced.
In addition, the exhibition hosts unpublished objects, many of which were lent by Gypsy families, and more than 150 images selected for their value, from different collections deposited in archives in Catalonia. There is also a space dedicated to cinema, which analyzes the representation of the Gypsy people on the big screen. From classic stereotypes to new Gypsy perspectives that demand a more just and plural representation.
Art, memory, and future
The tour at the Museum of History of Catalonia culminates with a piece created especially for the occasion by the renowned French-Gypsy artist Gabi Jimenez. With a strong emotional component, the work uses the language of contemporary art to transmit identity pride and to invite cultural dialogue and coexistence.The project will be completed with a monographic catalog and a documentary, which will include part of the recorded testimonies. In parallel, the museum will promote a program of activities to delve into Gypsy history and culture.