"All the Roma in Catalonia are survivors of the Great Raid."

Barcelona"I don't think such an ambitious exhibition on Roma culture has ever been held anywhere in the world. It's 1,000 square meters of a national museum and the point of view is Roma. The fact that I am Roma is already significant," says Mercedes Porras, Roma activist and curator ofThe Roma people in Catalonia: history and culture, which can be seen at the Museum of the History of Catalonia until August 2, 2026.

The exhibition is an initiative of the museum and is part of the commemoration of the 275th anniversary of the Great Raid of 1749 and the 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Roma people to the peninsula. All the texts are bilingual: they are in Catalan and Romani. The translation was done by an Italian of Yugoslavian origin, Seo Cizmic, because this language has not been spoken in Catalonia for 400 years. "We are the only Roma in the world who do not speak Romani. In 1499, the Catholic Monarchs published a law, the first of many, that prohibited the Roma people from using it under penalty of death. They left us without a language, but we have maintained our identity and symbols," explains Porras.

The Roma people cannot write their history through documents that reflect their own voice because they only began generating documentation in the 20th century. However, language has served to trace their trail. Romero comes directly from Sanskrit, the classical language of India and the sacred language of Hinduism. Genetic studies carried out in 2019 further support the theory that the Roma originate in present-day Punjab. "The Roma people fled the Islamic invasions and embarked on a long journey. At first, they were well received, but when their stay was prolonged, problems began," Porras explains. They left their mark in the different places they passed through: Persia, Anatolia, Armenia, Byzantium... "Romero doesn't have Arabic words because we were fleeing from the Muslims, but it does have Greek and Armenian ones..." says Porras.

"Foreigners considered magicians"

We cannot know what the Gypsies, a name they did not choose, thought, but we can know how others saw them. In the 12th century, Theodore Balsamó, a Greek canonist born in Constantinople, wrote: "They carry bears everywhere and call themselves bear tamers. They place dyed threads on the heads and all over the bodies of the animals. Afterwards, they cut these threads and offer them with pieces of the animals' hair as a charm." A monk on Mount Athos in the same century used the word Athínganos, from which the word gypsy would be derived, and defined them as "groups of foreigners considered magicians or fortune tellers." There are documents from Sweden, Scotland, Italy, France, Greece, Belgium, etc., with different descriptions, most of them not very positive.

The Roma arrived in Catalonia in the 15th century. At first, they were well received: they were Christian pilgrims, they shared Islam as a common enemy with Christians and displayed noble titles to be able to circulate. In Barcelona, ​​​​in 1487 there was already a Roma settlement at the end of the Rambla, next to the walls. Tranquility ended a few years later, with the Catholic Monarchs. Over the centuries, purges and expulsions accumulated.

A national holocaust

"All the Roma currently in Catalonia are survivors of the Great Roundup, our national holocaust," Porras asserts. The attempted extermination took place in the summer of 1749, under the reign of Ferdinand VI and orchestrated by the Marquis of Ensenada. Between 9,000 and 12,000 Roma were captured, and they were not released from prison until 1765. Over these sixteen years, many died from the terrible living conditions and forced labor to which they were subjected. The second great barbarity occurred under the Nazi regime: half a million Roma were murdered in Europe. In some countries, more than 80% of the Roma population was exterminated, but this was not discussed at the Nuremberg trials. "All this persecution caused us to become very inward-looking; perhaps that's also why our identity has been preserved; otherwise, we would have dissolved," opines the curator.

The Museum of the History of Catalonia isn't just about the past, but also the present and future. 160 interviews were conducted with Catalan Roma from all over the country, including Northern Catalonia. They are given a voice to speak in the first person about their history and how they see themselves in twenty or thirty years. Flamenco, rumba, and garrotín are part of the Roma contribution to Catalan culture. The exhibition also speaks to the importance of the extended family and challenges, such as the transition to the classroom and anti-Roma sentiment. "We want to make our history known and break stereotypes and self-stereotypes, showing our diversity so that we don't all fit the same mold," Porras summarizes.