Jordi Principal: "We must not renounce our identity, but we must include other groups."

BarcelonaHistorian and archaeologist Jordi Principal has been the director of the Museum of the History of Catalonia since June 2023. The institution, which opened in 1996 with the aim of disseminating the history of the region, received 118,038 visitors last year. With a budget of €2.74 million, extended from 2023, Principal wants to implement changes: to increase research and ensure that communities that have previously been voiceless participate and express themselves freely.

What is your assessment of this period as director of the Museum of the History of Catalonia?

— Very positive. I came in with a whole series of ideas, with a project, also looking at what the Museum of the History of Catalonia was like or what it had been up until now, and I found a very well-organized museum with a very interesting project. We've made a transition and laid the foundations for new exhibition projects, which we've been defining. Now we're experiencing a small blossoming of everything we've worked on with the exhibition on the history of the Roma people.

It's his first exhibition as director, and also the first major one in a long time. Why this one in particular?

— I wanted to tell other stories from Catalonia, to move beyond the standardized narrative we've learned in schools. My aim is to give voice to people who are part of this history but who haven't had the means or resources to be heard. And it seemed to me that starting with the Roma community was a matter of justice and democratic memory. There had been some small exhibitions, but I was interested in involving the Roma community. The novelty is that they've been able to express themselves freely.

Is this idea of ​​participation one of the museum's new dynamics?

— In fact, during the previous administration, work had already begun to make the museum more connected to the community. This meant incorporating the concerns, proposals, and needs of the community into the museum's narratives. It was about moving away from the community and engaging with it.

Had the museum turned its back on society?

— Changes had begun, but it still operated with the dynamics of a conventional museum. We tend to associate a museum with a collection. The Museum of the History of Catalonia doesn't have a collection, like museums such as the MNAC or the British Museum. It was created or conceived with other objectives.

What are the objectives?

— The history of Catalonia had to be explained in a very didactic or accessible way. Gradually, over time, it has moved beyond this initial approach and become a leading museum for the study and dissemination of Catalan history, building a collection along the way. We have developed a significant acquisitions policy.

The museum's website, when explaining its mission, specifies that it must serve to preserve collective memory and strengthen citizens' identification with national history. Should it be this way?

— It must remain this way, but we must also be mindful of what Catalonia is today. We must be attentive to everything around us. We are now a much more diverse country than we were ten years ago, and this diversity will not diminish but rather increase. We must reflect this diversity within our narrative and our historical story. We must not renounce our identity, but we must include other groups. Not to integrate them, but so that they become part of the story. It is a large group of people who have come here to stay and live.

Will the narrative about Catalan identity change?

— It won't change, but there will be contributions from other communities currently living in Catalonia who also want to be included in the narrative. We will have to acknowledge, for example, the significant role other communities, such as the Muslim community, have played in our history. Or other communities from Africa. We must explain the role Catalonia has played in colonialism.

One of the museum's outstanding challenges was the representation of women. Until recently, there was practically only one painting. The working girl by Joan Planella y Rodríguez.

— It has become clear that many of our museums, if they were to undergo an assessment to discover or simply demonstrate the degree of representation of certain groups, and especially the approach these groups take in their exhibitions, would fail the test. This is an issue that the Museum of the History of Catalonia has been working on for some time. We will soon be launching an audio guide focused on this group, an initiative of our cultural mediation and museum intervention project. An LGBTQ+ perspective.

Does it want to be a more social than political museum?

— Naturally.

You are an archaeologist by training and have done a lot of research. Will you focus more on researching or on presenting the results?

— We have a vast field of research ahead of us. Traditionally, little research has been done, or it has been too closely tied to the collection and the production of temporary exhibitions. We must strive to forge alliances, especially with the academic world, to develop projects together. We need to assert the museum's role as a generator of knowledge, but at the same time, ensure that this research is beneficial to us. We must be open to initiatives from outside the museum.

Should objects still be important?

— Objects are very important because they illustrate things for us; they speak of situations, of moments. Sometimes, objects hold hidden stories. The thing is, what matters to us isn't the artifact itself. That object should give us a starting point to talk about its context. And conversely, we should also tell a life story or a micro-history that resonates with us.

In this sense, what role should new technologies play?

— We must use them to unlock a vast array of possibilities. They must be a tool, an instrument that helps us understand the story we are telling much better. However, we cannot base the narrative solely on technology because then we would have a different kind of museum. Nevertheless, we must continue to offer hands-on experiences and not abandon a long-standing tradition of the Museum of the History of Catalonia. People always remember when they lifted an amphora or a warrior's armor.

What audience does the Museu d'Història de Catalunya have now?

— We have a diverse audience, but primarily school groups. The local audience makes up a significant percentage, but the international audience is also growing.

And what audience would you like to reach?

— We would like to attract a diverse audience, but above all, we must appeal to the people of Catalonia. We are the Museum of the History of Catalonia, and we must explain what is happening and what has happened in Catalonia. Right now, we would like to attract visitors from different regions, because we primarily receive visitors from Barcelona and the surrounding metropolitan area.

For now, will it stay in this space?

— Yes, in principle we now have the concession guaranteed until 2034.

The 2030 Museum Plan envisioned the merger with the Archaeological and Ethnological Museums to create a museum of society.

— Right now, what we need to do is use up all our time here.

What will come after the exhibition of the Roma people?

— We can't give you the specifics yet, but they will have a very similar approach. That is, we will try to address issues related to groups or communities that have not had a voice until now. We want to talk about conflicts, culture clashes, inequalities, exploitation... but always with a historical perspective.