A palace in the heart of La Rambla

I don't know any Barcelona native who, even having a love-hate relationship with La Rambla de Barcelona because of tourism, has never been carried away by the charm of this emblematic street of the city. Even so, I know few Barcelona natives who know about the cultural importance of thePalau Moja, located on Portaferrissa street, at the corner of La Rambla, or who know of its existence and have paid attention to its wonderful neoclassical facade, which envelops it like precious wrapping paper waiting for us to discover its interior. Sometimes, even if we wander around our city, it is worth looking up and letting ourselves be surprised by the facades of buildings as emblematic and unnoticed as the case at hand.

The Palau Moja is a building located within what we would today call "the heart of Barcelona". However, the situation it occupied when its construction began around 1774 was very different, as La Rambla was in full urban metamorphosis and sought to define its identity, which was then halfway between the old medieval city and the new one, and which was making its way outside the walls and offered a lot of new architectural possibilities to discover.

The Palau Moja is located where the old medieval wall of the city once stood(which ran along the current Rambla), which was demolished to build the Palau along with one of the access gates to the walled enclosure: the so-called Porta Ferrissa (or iron gate) which gives its name to Portaferrissa street, one of the main arteries of the 18th century, when the Rambla was still under construction. It was at that moment of urban change thatMaria Lluïsa de Copons y Descatllar, Marquesa de Moja, he had his new family residence built: the Palau Moja,embarking on works that will last ten years, since the Palau was inaugurated in 1784 with a grand ceremony for the wedding of the eldest daughter of the Marquises of Moja, when the building had its structure and facades practically finished, but was not completely completed.The building was commissioned to one of the most representative architects of the 18th century: Josep Mas, the same architect of other important constructions of the time such as the Basilica de la Mercè, the church of Sant Vicenç de Sarrià or the expansion of the Palau Episcopal de Barcelona, with which the facade of the Palau Moja bears great similarity.

The Moja residence is a building that combines Baroque elements with influences of French Neoclassicism

The Moja residence is a building that combines elements of the Baroque with influences of Neoclassicism of French origin, especially visible on the building's facades, with sober lines and few ornamental elements, but with numerous windows and balconies that provide a lot of natural light to the building and also allowed the family to see everything that happened in that new city. It is also not surprising that the main facade, where the entrance door to the building is located, is on Portaferrissa street, which was the main street of the time and not La Rambla.Above the entrance door, one of the few decorative elements timidly stands out: the figure of a lion, a symbol of nobility and power. Also corresponding to this first stage of the Palauthe paintings of the Great Hall, commissioned to Francesc Pla (known by the nickname El Vigatàfor his hometown, Vic). An exceptional ensemble, considered the artist's best pictorial work. These are fresco paintings that occupy the main hall of the Palace (the Grand Salon), the most important space for the family, where high society was received and dances and family celebrations were held. It is for this reason thathave as their objective to exalt the family of the Marquises of Moja with a series of characters painted in grisaille ---in shades of gray, white and black---, ancestors who star in glorious scenes. In addition, all scenes are within frames that highlight the importance of each moment.These ancestors appear portrayed with the royalty and nobility of other eras, transforming into protagonists of great memorable deeds(although all of them invented, since no documentation has been found that allows identifying any scene). The paintings have a magnificent perspective and are made in fresco and grisaille, which contrasts with a part of color, basically formed by floral ornaments, angels and other fantastic characters (decorations typical of the Baroque period) that form adivertimentoof an exceptional invoice. Also noteworthy is the constant use of another resource very typical of the most scenographic baroque: the numeroustrompe l'oeilthat we find in these paintings, which generate depth and different textures in each corner and demonstrate a great mastery of the pictorial language. It is also curious to see howthe artist adapts perfectly to the existing architecture, as observed on the ceilings and on the upper floor of the Great Hall, which features a splendid gallery surrounded by balconies and windows, providing natural light to this large room. Some of the doors are false and others lead to smaller rooms. During celebrations, the balconies were often occupied by musicians or children.The Moja family inhabits the Palau for almost one hundred years, until Josepa de Sariera y Copons, the last member of the Moja y Cartellà, dies without descendants in 1865.

In 1865, with no descending line from the Mojà, the Palace became the property of Antonio López, Marquis of Comillas.

Then begins the second stage, when the businessman Antonio López y López acquires the Palace in 1870to the descendants of the Moja family, on the condition that they keep the main structures of the Palau intact. Even so, the López family found a Palau that was not adapted to their needs and they make some minor modifications, especially in the lobby and the grand staircase, where we find a great abundance of marble in the railings and an opulent lamp, supported by an atlas, and forged in Paris. The room also features a bust of the Marquis and is decorated with frescoes that refer to the sea and winds, in allusion to the businesses with which López had made his fortune.Also in this second stage, an illustrious character inhabits the Palau: Mosén Cinto Verdaguer, who was the confessor of the Comillas, officiated mass, and was the official almoner.The chapel and sacristy where Mosén Cinto Verdaguer said mass are still preserved, attached to the Grand Hall and with the ceiling also painted by Francesc Pla. In addition, on the part of the architect, we find again the resource of the oculus in the upper part of the room as a window, which provides natural light. During this period, the building was not only used as a family residence but also as a work office, as the Marquis of Comillas ran a large shipping company with which he had made a great fortune. After the death of the Marquis of Comillas, in 1883, Palau Moja passed into the hands of his daughter, Lluïsa Isabel López, married to the businessman Eusebi Güell.In the year 1930, the porches we see today were opened, which allow for widening the sidewalks for pedestrians, but also for extracting economic benefit, as the ground floors would be used as commercial premises, which are still in operation today. It is interesting to add thatthis intervention was carried out by what was then a young architect, but of great prestige: Lluís Domenech i Montaner. Unfortunately, this period also corresponds the loss of a part of the buildingthe gardens that belonged to the Palau, destroyed during the 1930s due to the construction of the Sepu warehouses, which definitively disappeared in 2000.

The building, now owned by the Generalitat, is the headquarters of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage

During the Civil War, the building became the headquarters of the CNTand subsequently the offices of the Compañía Transatlántica and also of the Banco Atlántico, of which the first Marquis of Comillas had been a founder, are relocated. When the third Marquis of Comillas dies in 1959, the building falls into decay and different fires occur that reduce the building to a shadow of what it had been. In 1981, the Generalitat de Catalunya buys the building with the aim of recovering it and transforming it into a workspace. The restoration is complete.Currently, the building is the headquarters of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage of the Department of Culture and its access is restricted to the public, as it is enabled as offices.Despite its poor condition at the time of acquisition, over the last few decades a great effort has been made to recover the heritage, adapting the building to new needs, but also restoring all the tradition that a palace like this deserves, located in the heart of La Rambla and a first-person testimony to the private lives of nobles, marquises, illustrious figures… and much more.

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