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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Garrotxa Experiences
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Authentic Olot: The Museum of Saints
Olot has a long tradition of producing religious images. Today, the centre of this industry is located in one of Catalonia’s most singular museums, the Olot Museum of Saints.
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Catalonia from the Pyrenees to the coast
The goal of this route is to get to know a part of Catalonia following the Carrilet cycle path. This beautiful route will take you from one of the most characteristic spots in the Pre-Pyrenees, the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, to the Costa Brava.
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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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Nature, culture and gastronomy
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Picture perfect scenery in La Garrotxa. Art and nature.
Live the experience of making fresh cow’s cheese, enjoy a walk tour at night through “La Fageda d’en Jordà” beech forest, ride a horse in the Volcanic Zone Natural Park, visit a landscape painter’s work studio and paint in the countryside.
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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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Professional volcanic region backroads tour
This tour is targeted for people who love to ride road bikes through natural areas. Enjoy the surroundings and the company whilst challenging yourself.
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Garrotxa Cultour
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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.
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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.
