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).
Olot School
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Routes and excursions TOP
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Brugent bathing pool route in Sant Feliu de Pallerols
Upstream of Les Planes d'Hostoles, the river Brugent leaves, as it passes through Sant Feliu de Pallerols, a series of bathing pools, all of them located a few meters from the Carrilet greenway.
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GR 83 - Camí del Nord o del Canigó
This route provides links Mataró and Prada de Conflent and the peak of El Canigó. It runs through attractive landscapes in El Montseny, Les Guilleries and La Garrotxa, and includes sections involving considerable climbs once it reaches the Pyrenees.
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Argelaguer-Mare de Déu del Guilar. Ruta 1 Argelaguer
The church of La Mare de Déu del Guilar was founded by the knight Simó de Balbs in 1334 as a chapel for the castle of the same name.
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Els Comuns. Route 1 Tortellà
The route takes us to the Comuns quarry, a stone extraction site that used to build the Olot motorway to Besalú. The mining activity was stopped in 2010 and is currently under restoration.
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Grau d'Escales route. Route 2 Montagut i Oix
Grau d'Escales is a relatively easy pass (grau = ‘pass’ and escala = ‘step’ in Catalan) between two abrupt cliffs from where there are good views of the Salt dels Lliberals (Liberal’s Leap).
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Sant Grau d'Entreperes to Sant Miquel de Monteia (from Sales)
This route will take you to two of the most emblematic Romanesque chapels in the Sierra de Entreperes, in the Alta Garrotxa.
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Romanesque hermitages of la Garrotxa
Although some structures from the 11th century do still stand, most of the surviving medieval buildings in La Garrotxa date from the 12th and 13th centuries.
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Broad flat bottomed valley of les Prese (ancient lake), Racó volcano and Pedra Tosca laves circuit.
The arrival of the Croscat volcano lava flow about 11,000 years ago, altered the landscape of this place and its effects extended not only to a wide area but quite reach our age.
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Vayreda’s Alta Garrotxa. Route 8 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
Rediscover nature in the heart of the city. The urban layout of Olot is set around one of the most famous volcanoes: Montsacopa.