In the second half of the XIX century, Catalan landscape painting acquired an importance and personality previously unknown to this genre. Among the landscape artists of the moment were Josep Armet and Josep Berga, however it was Joaquim Vayreda who became the foremost Catalan landscape painter. In his work, the landscape took centre stage.
Vayreda was the founder of the Olot School of countryside painting, a movement characterised by the taste for painting from nature and directly inspired by the works of the French artists of Barbizon School. Their canvases, which enjoyed wide exposure and considerable success, influenced numerous Catalan landscape painters.
The Museu de la Garrotxa has an extensive collection of paintings by the Olot School, and the Museu dels Sants has a collection centred on one of Olot's traditional industries: religious imagery. And it is Olot's saints' workshops that make virtually all the religious sculptures that are found around the world. The museum shows the whole process of making these pieces and allows you to see, first hand, the inside of a workshop (on week days).
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Olot School
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Experiences TOP
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The secrets of Girona’s Greenways
The Girona greenways have 125km of reclaimed railway tracks, that go from the Pyrenees to la Costa Brava. We’ll discover the hidden secrets on a bike: volcanic landscapes, old mines, waterfalls, Romanesque churches….
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Villages with charm
Despite the multiple attractions – landscape, cuisine and its people – of La Garrotxa, there are some places in this comarca that have a truly unique air about them.
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The Romanesque churches of La Vall de Bianya
The traces of the history of La Vall de Bianya can be followed in this itinerary that visits the 15 Romanesque churches that decorate this peaceful corner of La Garrotxa.
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Saint James’ Way
The Saint James’ Way is one of Europe’s great cultural treasures and its waymarked route allows pilgrims (and others!) to visit on foot many of the country’s most important historical points of interest.
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Medieval La Garrotxa
Castles and monasteries were at the centre of life in the Middle Ages. Although some of their splendour has waned, today La Garrotxa still maintains vestiges of that past in towns and villages such as Sant Joan les Fonts, Santa Pau and Besalú.
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The Carrilet cycle lane
The Carrilet is for walkers and cyclists only and follows the route of the narrow gauge railway that once linked Olot and Girona.
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La Garrotxa, land of volcanic flavors
We’ll visit artisans; participate in cooking workshops; taste volcanic cuisine ‘Cuina Volcànica’ and dine in a Michelin-star restaurant; discover some beautiful corners by foot and fly over La Garrotxa’s Volcanic Zone Natural Park in a hot air balloon.
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Art Noveau La Garrotxa
The Solà-Morales house in the centre of Olot, the school in Les Planes d’Hostoles and Mas la Riba (an old farmhouse) in La Vall de la Bianya are but three of the numerous examples of this artistic style that is so characteristic of Catalonia.
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Garrotxa Cultour
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Vayreda’s Alta Garrotxa
Marian Vayreda’s novel La Punyalada provides one of the best ways of discovering the Alta Garrotxa. The places depicted by this 19th century author in the scenes from his famous novel have been joined in a discovery route.
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Olot and its volcanoes
The city of Olot spreads out around the base of one of La Garrotxa’s best known volcanoes –Montsacopa– and climbing its slopes is a perfect way to rediscover nature without actually leaving the city.
