The Palau Savassona, on Barcelona's Carrer de la Canuda, has housed the Ateneu Barcelonès since 1906. Previously, since 1860, this institution had been housed in the annex building of the Teatro Principal on La Rambla. Thus, the Ateneu has celebrated its 165th anniversary and has accompanied the cultural and political life of our country during this long period. Few cultural institutions are as representative as they are, yet have been able to withstand the passage of time without losing their core essence.
This legacy, updated over so long a period of time, is binding on all of us, and we must maintain it so that all citizens and official institutions identify and value the contribution the Ateneo continues to make to the cultural and ideological world of our country. We often say that the "jewel in the crown" is its library, both for its nearly 300,000 volumes and for the richness and representativeness of what the 19th-century elites knew about the European world and its advances in all fields. Our obligation, properly advised, remains to keep this institution alive so that we can offer it to interested readers and researchers, both local and foreign.
At its side, the Ateneo played a pivotal role in the transition from the cultural Catalanism of the 19th century to the political Catalanism that would soon assume a leading electoral and institutional role. Catalanism has been and continues to be one of the Ateneo's identifying features, and for this reason, it was repressed and intervened during the two dictatorships of the 20th century. Later, the people who promoted the democratizing transition at the Casa in the early 1970s returned Catalan identity and reflection on Catalanism to the forefront of institutional activity and significance. Keeping this testimony alive, duly updated, is another of the historical demands that distinguish our representativeness.
Particularly since the years of the Great War, our Athenaeum became the temple of letters and ideas for Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia. It must be said that this activity largely followed in the footsteps of the great series and conferences that had brought prestige to the Athenaeum during the previous century and had made it one of the gateways to Catalonia, and often to the Iberian Peninsula, for major global cultural movements. In 1936, ultra-revolutionary groups identified cultural activity and the library as a bastion of bourgeois culture and were preparing to burn the Athenaeum. From the Catalan government, however, the intervention of Josep Tarradellas saved the institution. In 1939, young Falangists attempted to do the same within the Catalan institution, and Athenaeum members sympathetic to the new regime were able to stop them, but they were unable to prevent censorship of the library's cultural life and catalog. During the long years of Franco's regime, the Ateneo lived on the fringes of anti-Franco cultural life. The combined action of the committees, sections, clubs, and gatherings thus responds to a historical and future mandate.
There is no doubt that all this has given our Athenaeum great strength and a special appeal. We often highlight the passing through the House of the most prominent figures in Catalan culture, liberal professions, and politics. But we cannot forget the many citizens who have chosen to live with them and who, by becoming members, have strengthened this institution. Undoubtedly, Catalonia stands out for the strength of the multitude of athenaeums, centers, groups, and institutions of all kinds where citizens have found a welcome and a way to fight against external aggression and defend their own identity, both class and national. The joint action of these people has constituted a vehicle for democratization and strengthening of Catalan society. Contributing to this collective effort represents another of the Athenaeum's identifying features, which it cannot relinquish.
Any board that wishes to lead the Ateneu Barcelonès can and should contribute its own nuances. But it could jeopardize the very survival of the institution if it ceases to be faithful to the institution's core identity. At the same time, we must preserve the historical legacy we inherited and pass it on to those who will follow us. And as a highly relevant mandate, we must be extremely careful with internal democratic behavior, with scrupulous ethical conduct, and with the commitment to sustainability that must allow us to ensure our collective survival.
