Historian 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 country, 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 not previously had a voice participate and express themselves freely.

"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.