Ecomuseu Farinera

The Farinera flour mill building and its water channel were purchased by the Castelló d’Empúries Town Hall in 1995 to turn it into an Ecomuseum, which opened its doors to the public in 1998.

The museum is part of the Registry of Museums of Catalonia, which endorses its quality and excellence. It has been one of the museums in the Territorial System of the National Museum of Science and Industry of Catalonia, ever since it was acquired in 2010. It is also part of the Territorial Network of Museums in the Girona Counties and the Industrial Tourism Network of Catalonia.

The mission of the Ecomuseu Farinera in Castelló d’Empúries is to show human beings’ capacity for innovation and technology as an engine for social change, as well as the impact it has on the environment. Through the conservation, research and dissemination of its collection, the museum aims to raise citizens’ awareness of the industrial flour and natural heritage and to contribute to building a more sustainable society that is more deeply engaged with culture.
 

The museum’s vision is expressed in four dimensions:

• Leadership in its field and in raising awareness of the natural heritage: The Ecomuseu-Farinera aims to be a leader in conserving, researching and disseminating the heritage associated with the flour industry in Catalonia. It also sets out to be a space of liaison with the stakeholders working around it to promote, disseminate and raise awareness of the need to conserve the natural heritage and foster more responsible living habits.

• Cooperation with the territory: The Ecomuseu-Farinera aims to serve as a driving force in forging collaborations with other stakeholders in its region and its subject matter in order to increase the capacity for action, significance and citizen engagement while also maintaining its commitment to the existing networks. In this way, it aims to project the museum beyond is core sphere of influence.

• Citizen involvement in constructing the museum: The Ecomuseu-Farinera forges synergies with citizens with an inclusive perspective (cultural, social, functional) as a local, participative cultural facilities to satisfy people’s interests and curiosity. In this way, it seeks to be meaningful through its cultural action with the goal of connecting citizens’ reality to the museum’s story, generating a compelling experience that manages to enrich people.
 

The values that shape the museum’s activities are:

• Sustainability: The Ecomuseu-Farinera focuses on sustainable culture as the foundation of a society with responsible habits in its interactions with the environment, the use of natural resources, care of people and consumption.

• Commitment to social inclusion: The Ecomuseu-Farinera acknowledges its role in building local social cohesion and fostering cultural participation by all groups.

• Gender equity: The Ecomuseu-Farinera accepts the need to work on equity from the field of culture in order to attain gender equality in our society.

• Fostering reflection and debate: The Ecomuseu-Farinera believes that one of the core social function of our heritage is to generate reflections on the current world through elements that tell about our history and our cultural and natural heritage.

• Responsibility: The Ecomuseu-Farinera acts responsibly in its function as a public facility and has a steadfast commitment to transparency, social and functional accessibility and the normalisation of the Catalan language.
 

In 2022, we will celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Ecomuseu-Farinera of Castelló d’Empúries as an autonomous entity. The project has gradually taken shape over these years. The different phases of architectural rehabilitation have gradually allowed the former industrial facilities to be reopened for public use, this time as a museum which allows patrons to relive the recent history of our village and our country by sharing the evolution of the flour industry in Catalonia.

Obviously, this is the outcome of a collective effort. The most important effort comes from our town, which has supported the Farinera project and brought it to fruition. Yet the other institutions and administrations that have provided support and financing also matter (European Regional Development Funds, Girona Provincial Council, La Caixa Foundation, Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, etc.), and so does the work done inside the museum, which is the least visible of all. These efforts have also been supported by many people —some of whom are unfortunately no longer with us today— and some companies as well.

Today the Ecomuseu Farinera is a benchmark in turning our industrial heritage related to flour into a museum, where we have been the pioneers. We have also worked in consulting associated with industrial themes at different places around Catalonia, Spain and even the Catalan region in France.

Carme Gilabert i Valldeperez
Director 
Degree in Art History from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Master’s Degree in Management of Historical-Archaeological Heritage from the Universitat de Barcelona
Master’s Degree in Museology and Management of Cultural Heritage from the Universitat de Barcelona
direccio@ecomuseu-farinera.org

Núria Roura i Armangué
Assistant director.
Degree in Art History from the Universitat de Girona
Master’s Degree in Cultural Heritage from the Universitat de Girona
activitats@ecomuseu-farinera.org
documentacio@ecomuseu-farinera.org 
firapa@ecomuseu-farinera.org

Assumpta Amat i Gómez
Concierge
informacio@ecomuseu-farinera.org
visites@ecomuseu-farinera.org

In implementation of the museum’s contingency plan for the COVID-19 pandemic, the documentation centre is currently closed to the public. You may request remote access to the collection.

The searchable collection is comprised of documentation from the old flour mill of Castelló d’Empúries and the collections that we have been given from other factories, including catalogues, supplier brochures, technical drawings, books and specialised magazines.

It also includes current publications that have been either acquired or exchanged with other cultural heritage entities.

In 2020, via the Department of Culture’s National Photography Plan, we received the series of photographs entitled La Farinera, 1994 by the photographer F. Guillamet.

Requests should be sent to documentacio@ecomuseu-farinera.org or by phoning 972 25 05 12.

Anything that attests to the following: 

Items related to flour production, wheat cultivation and the transformation of the product throughout history.

• Objects from the flour manufacturing process.
• Laboratory equipment related to wheat and flour analysis.
• Objects associated with the transformation of the finished products.
• Signs from the factory. 
• Theme: Energy. 
• Elements associated with the Farinera’s natural and rural environment.
• Elements associated with the ecomuseum’s region.
• Traditions, trades, peoples, etc.

If you would like to donate to the museum, you can phone us on 972 25 05 12 or send an email to informacio@ecomuseu-farinera.org.

If you would like to place an order, phone (+34) 972 25 05 12 or send an email to botiga@ecomuseu-farinera.org

• Exclusive Ecomuseu-Farinera products.
• Stationery.
• Textiles.
• Food. Wheat-derived products: pasta and beer.
• Cosmetics.
• Handmade crafts.
• Products from the Regional System of the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia.
• Quaderns de didàctica i difusió (Teaching and Dissemination Notebooks) published by the Regional System of the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia.
• Books.
• Volumes from the Library of Rural History of the Girona Counties published by the University of Girona.
• Children’s books.

Des de 2015, el museu dipossa del Distintiu de garantia de qualitat ambiental, un sistema d'etiquetatge ecològic que es va crear a través del Decret 316/1994, de 4 de novembre, de la Generalitat de Catalunya. És un sistema per identificar aquells productes i serveis que reuneixen determinades propietats o característiques que els fa més respectuosos amb el medi ambient.

Quins són els seus objectius?

• Promoure el disseny, la producció, la comercialització, l'ús i el consum de productes i de serveis que afavoreixen la minimització de residus o bé la recuperació i reutilització dels subproductes, les matèries i les substàncies que contenen, i també dels que suposen un estalvi de recursos, especialment d'energia i aigua.
• Proporcionar als usuaris i als consumidors una informació millor i més fiable sobre la qualitat ambiental dels productes i dels serveis que els orienti en les seves decisions d'ús o de compra. És compatible amb altres sistemes oficials de garantia de qualitat ambiental.

Aquest distintiu es renova cada 3 anys.

Què fa el museu per ser més sostenible ?

• Energia: disposem de detectors de presència als banys i en espais expositius, el 85% de les nostres lluminàries són làmpades eficients, aprofitament de la llum natural, més del 50% dels tancaments exteriors tenen doble vidres.
• Optimitzar recursos: les aixetes i les cisternes tenen dispositius d’estalvi amb cabal regula.
• Es realitza recollida selectiva de residus.
• Es segueix una política de desmaterialització de la comunicació, prevenció de residus i optimització de recursos.
• Compra de material amb etiqueta ecològica.
• Ús de mobiliari modular que permet optimitzar els usos de diversos espais i fer-los polivalents.
• Programació d’activitats de sensibilització en la necessitat de preservar el patrimoni natural i fomentar uns hàbits de vida més responsables.
• Promoció de la formació en matèria de sostenibilitat.