Until June, Montjuïc Castle is hosting “Montjuïc. The Amusement Park”, a participatory exhibition organised by Barcelona City Council’s Institute of Culture (ICUB) and directed and coordinated by the Eurecat technology centre and ALS. It welcomes visitors looking to learn about the amusement park which stood on part of the mountain from 1966 to 1998.
The show includes a tour of rooms 18 and 19 at the Castle divided into four areas. They present the historical background before and during the construction of Montjuïc amusement park, the park while it was in operation and its closure in post-Olympic Barcelona, which led to its dismantling and the remodelling of the area in the Joan Brossa Gardens.
Devised by Mayor Josep Maria de Porcioles in the mid-1960s, the park was one of the projects to transform the city which were backed by the Francoist city council and part of a propaganda campaign designed to portray the regime in a more modern light.
Montjuïc amusement park ran for three decades and became one of Barcelona’s iconic venues, shaping a whole era in the city’s social life until 1998 when it closed its doors for the last time.
The exhibition is curated by Paco Villar, a law graduate, writer and historian of the city of Barcelona, and has drawn on the advice of Achus.biz, an open and collaborative project led by Jose Pérez and Esther Borrego. Jaume Susany, also a contributor to Achus, has additionally shared his knowledge gained from years of research into Montjuïc mountain.
