Museu Pau Casals

About the museum

The museum is in the Vil·la Casals, the summer house that Pau Casals had built facing Sant Salvador beach in El Vendrell, and which from the 1920s was his usual residence. Work began in early 1910 to a design by Francisco Solà i Gené, and in 1931 the architect Antoni Puig i Gairalt extended it and turned it into a stately residence, with a concert room decorated with 18th-century paintings by Francesc Pla “el Vigatà”, the Sala del Sentimiento and a large garden. Casals lived here until January 1939, when he went into exile after the Civil War, and he never returned.

In 1972 Pau Casals and his wife, Marta Montañez, created the Fundació Pau Casals to preserve the house and its collection, and the museum opened to the public in 1974. In 2001 it underwent a comprehensive refurbishment that allowed it to be approved as a museum facility. In June 2020 the Generalitat de Catalunya declared it a Museum of National Interest and, since 2021, with funding from the Generalitat and the support of El Vendrell town council and the Tarragona Provincial Council, the building has been restored and the museography renewed.

The collection brings together personal and commemorative objects, furniture, decorative arts, musical instruments and an important art collection that Casals gradually acquired, with works by Ramon Casas, Martí Alsina, Joaquim Mir, Eliseu Meifrèn, Eugène Carrière, Lluïsa Vidal, Ignacio Zuloaga and Josep Clarà, among others. The garden, dedicated to his mother in 1931, has a lookout over the sea and a gallery of sculptures by Josep Llimona and Josep Clarà.

Highlights

• Historic rooms of the house, such as the Sala del Vigatà, the Sala de la Música and the Sala del Sentimiento
• 18th-century paintings by Francesc Pla “el Vigatà”
• Personal objects, instruments and art collection of Pau Casals
• Garden with a sea lookout and a gallery of sculptures by Llimona and Clarà
• Music programme and the Casals150 cycle

Permanent exhibition

• Vil·la Casals: casa museo y colección – Visit to the historic rooms of the house (Sala del Vigatà, Sala de la Música, Sala del Sentimiento), with personal objects, instruments, furniture and Pau Casals's art collection, and to the sculpture garden.

Founded

1974

Operated by

Fundació Pau Casals

Admission & discounts

Free admission for under-8s, residents of El Vendrell, Friends of the Fundació, holders of the Super3 card (maximum four per adult), official guides of Catalonia, subscribers to Cavall Fort, members of ICOM and the AMC, journalists and art critics, accredited teachers and members of the Associació Musical Pau Casals del Vendrell. 2×1 admission for several groups (for example members of Òmnium Cultural, TR3SC or the club of La Vanguardia). Accreditation must be shown when requested.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide

The museum offers routes and special materials for enjoying the visit as a family, as well as school visits about the figure of Pau Casals.

Getting there & parking

By car: AP-7 exit 31 or C-32 motorway exit 3 (direction Coma-ruga/Sant Salvador), or N-340 (A-7) direction Coma-ruga. GPS coordinates: 41.183376, 1.541519.

Amenities & dining

• Restaurant

Restaurant Vil·la Casals, in the former guest houses that Pau Casals had built in 1929, with a terrace overlooking the sea.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events
• Weddings / ceremonies

Up to 350 guests.

The garden (800 m², 150 diners at a banquet or 350 at a cocktail), the Sala de la Música (98 m², 70 people) and the multipurpose room (137 m², 90 diners or 100 theatre-style) are available for presentations, meetings, banquets, civil ceremonies and filming, with catering from the Vil·la Casals restaurant.

Plan your visit