The University of Barcelona, the MAC and the IEC pay tribute to the figure of Pere Bosch Gimpera on the 50th anniversary of his death
On 25 October, the University of Barcelona, the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia (MAC) and the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC) will begin a series of institutional events to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pere Bosch Gimpera (1891-1974), one of the most outstanding Catalan archaeologists of the 20th century. The events will be attended by leading academic and political figures, as well as Bosch Gimpera’s great-granddaughter, Cecilia Bosch, who will be travelling from Mexico for this occasion. The events are also in collaboration with the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres, the Memorial Democràtic and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation of the UB.
The first event will be held on 25 October at 12.00 noon in the UB’s Aula Magna. The rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, will open the tribute, followed by a speech by Josep M. Fullola, curator of the Bosch Gimpera Year, followed by a gloss on Bosch Gimpera by Francisco Gracia, professor of prehistory at the UB and co-author, with Josep M. Fullola and F. Vilanova, of 58 anys i 7 dies. Correspondència de Pere Bosch Gimpera a Lluís Pericot (1919-1974) (Edicions UB, 2003). Bosch Gimpera’s great-granddaughter, Cecília Bosch, will attend the event and visit the Rectors’ Portrait Gallery, where her great-grandfather’s portrait and academic insignia are kept.
On 7 November, at 7.00 p.m., the MAC will inaugurate the exhibition “El museu somiat. Bosch Gimpera i el MAC”, a selection of photographs, documents and archaeological materials preserved in the gallery, to learn about and recognize his life and his academic and museum activity. In addition, a commemorative plaque made by the artist Xavier Medina Campeny in memory of Bosch Gimpera, who was the founder and first director of the MAC, will be presented.
Finally, on 21 November, the conference Bosch Gimpera: Una Visió Polièdrica will be held in the Pere i Joan Coromines Hall of the Institute for Catalan Studies. The president of the IEC, Teresa Cabré, will open this academic conference that will analyse his work and career from multiple perspectives, with outstanding interventions by Borja Riquer, Josep M. Fullola, Oriol Dueñas, Francisco Gracia and Mari Carmen Serra Puche, a disciple of Bosch Gimpera at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), among others.
Pere Bosch Gimpera (1891-1974) was a leading figure in archaeology and Catalan academic and political life in the 20th century. Academically trained in Germany, as a prehistorian and archaeologist he modernized the discipline in Catalonia, is considered the driving force behind the Catalan School of Archaeology, carried out important excavations, and was the founder and first director of the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia. He was rector of the UB (1933-1939), where he promoted its autonomy and modernization. Following the events of October 1934, he was temporarily removed as rector and briefly imprisoned. As Minister of Justice of the Republican government (1937-1939), he worked to maintain legal order in wartime. After the Civil War, he went into exile in Mexico, where he developed an intense academic activity as a professor at the UNAM and at the National School of Anthropology and History. From 1948 to 1952, he was head of the Division of Philosophy and Humanities at UNESCO. In exile, he continued his work as an intellectual and reference point for Catalan culture, kept alive his links with Catalonia and also participated in cultural and political initiatives in the Republican diaspora.
All the information related to the Bosch Gimpera Year is available on this link.