Until the Catalan coast was known as the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada, agriculture was the inhabitants' main occupation. Nowadays, farming has significantly diminished, but the region has decided to preserve the memory of its ancestral agricultural traditions. This is how the Museum of Rural Life came about in Espluga de Francoli, a small inland town. It is one of the tours in Costa Daurada where you can talk to children without moralising about caring for nature (and children under 18 years old are entitled to free entry to the museum).
El Museo de la Vida Rural occupies a large building. The exhibition focuses on farming in Catalonia in general and Espluga de Francoli in particular, local crafts and Catalan family traditions. The space is organised very unusually: modern audio-visual equipment has been installed next to the old tools so that you can see the farmers or artisans at work.
This is convenient because not only children — even adults — may not always be able to guess what a particular tool is for. The fact is that agriculture in Catalonia has its own specialization — here, long since learned to collect and process olives, grapes, almonds and citrus fruits. For this purpose, special machines and mechanisms were created.
Visitors will also learn how other professions worked: teachers, priests, pharmacists, bakers, hairdressers, lumberjacks, carpenters and blacksmiths.
Exhibitions are regularly held at the Museum of Rural Life. Walking through the town's streets is also advisable to see the buildings dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. To glimpse the region's distant past, visit the Espluga de Francoli Cave, which houses a museum of prehistory and geology. The monastery of Poblet is 2 km from the town.
The Museum of Rural Life in facts:
- 5,500 sq.m of permanent exhibition space
- 18 audiovisuals
- Free Audio guide
- Ecological farm garden
- Architectural barrier-free facility
- Accessible toilets
- Wheelchair available
- Motor coach parking area
- Shop
- Free Wi-Fi zone
- Cloakrooms
- Close to Barcelona (120 km) and the Costa Daurada (40 km)
- Right near Poblet Monastery (2 km)
