The Center of Contemporary History of Catalonia (CHCC) was created in March 1984 with the aim of promoting the study and dissemination of historical research. The ambition of Josep Benet, its first director, was to recover, above all, the memory of the history of Catalanism. Another challenge was to help young researchers and promote the dissemination of their research. When the Museum of History of Catalonia was inaugurated, the CHCC moved to the same building. They shared the space but nothing else.

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.