"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.

From the outside it looks like a mountain of wood, fabric and scrap metal. But once inside, the prevailing organisation reveals a small community of neighbours, more or less an avenue. Life in the Vallcarca shanty town "is hard". This is admitted by Florina Drosu, who has lived there for years and has opened the doors of the site to receive a team from the ARA and explain how they are organised and how she and the rest of the neighbours live.