Catalan is a Western Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain. It is the only official language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. It also has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero. It is also spoken in the eastern strip of Aragon, in some villages of the region of Murcia called Carche and in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France. These territories are often called Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement that came to be known as the Renaixença. It was inaugurated February 9, 1908.
The Renaixença, or Catalan Renaissance, was an early 19th-century romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture, akin to the Galician Rexurdimento or the Occitan Félibrige movements. The movement dates to the 1830s and 1840s, but lasted into the 1880s, when it branched out into other cultural movements. Even though it primarily followed a romantic impulse, it incorporated stylistic and philosophical elements of other 19th century movements such as Naturalism or Symbolism. The name does not indicate a particular style, but rather the cultural circumstances in which it bloomed.
Football is the most important sport in Catalonia and was introduced in the late 19th century by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers and visiting sailors, and students returning from Britain. Catalonia led the way in the development of football in Spain, organising both the first association and the first league. Today football in Catalonia is organized by the Catalan Football Federation and the RFEF and teams from Catalonia compete in La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Copa Catalunya and several European competitions.
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà was a Catalan politician, lawyer and writer. He was a member of the Centre Escolar Catalanista, where one of the earliest definitions of Catalan nationalism was formulated. He became the first President of the Commonwealth of Catalonia on 6 April 1914 and retained this office until his death. He wrote the book and political manifesto La nacionalitat catalana in which greater autonomy to Catalonia was advocated. He died in 1917 and is interred in the Montjuïc Cemetery in Barcelona.
Adrià Gual i Queralt was a Catalan playwright and theatre businessman, founder of the Escola Catalana d'Art Dramàtic and a pioneer of cinema in Barcelona.
Martí de Riquer i Morera, 8th Count of Casa Dávalos was a Spanish–Catalan literary historian and Romance philologist, a recognised international authority in the field. His writing career lasted from 1934 to 2004. He was also a nobleman and Grandee of Spain.
The first names, or glossonyms, of the Catalan language formed in a dialectal relation with Latin, in which Catalan existed as a variety. These names already expressed the relationship between the two languages. New names that related Catalan to Rome came about to dignify the Catalan language in the thirteenth century, though Latinists called it vulgar and the people planus, or pla.
Johan Blanch was an Occitan troubadour who composed a canso for a joc floral at the Consistori del Gay Saber. According to the rubric of the fourteenth-century chansonnier that preserves it, he was a Catalan whose poem "won the violet", top prize. His canso is elegant and pleading.
Joan Abellan i Mula is a Catalan playwright and essayist.
Josep Abril i Virgili (1869-1918) was a self-taught Catalan poet and playwright. He specialized in the production of works with easily understood and popular moral lessons, which were publicised through Roman Catholic organizations.
The Catalan donkey is a breed of large domestic donkey from Catalonia, in north-eastern Spain and south-western France. Approximately 80% of the population is in Catalonia, and approximately 20% is in Northern Catalonia.
Caterina Albert i Paradís, better known by her penname Víctor Català, was a Catalan writer in Catalan and Spanish who participated in the Modernisme movement and was the author of one of the signature works of the genre, Solitud (Solitude) (1905). Her literary skill was first recognized in 1898, when she received the Jocs Florals prize; soon thereafter, she began using the pseudonym Victor Català, taking it from the protagonist of a novel she never finished. Despite her success as a dramatist and her forays into poetry, she is best known for her work in narrative literature, with the force of her style and the richness of her diction being especially noted. She died in her hometown of l’Escala, Catalonia, in 1966 and is interred in the Cementiri Vell de l’Escala.
Xavier Miserachs i Ribalta was a Catalan photographer. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, but left school to be a photographer. He exhibited his work in Barcelona from 1956. His work is reminiscent of neorealism and is representative of the years of Spanish economic recovery, 1950-1960. His photographs show him as a creator of a new image of the city and its people. In 1998 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi of the Catalan government.
Josep Maria Nadal i Farreras is Professor of History of Language at the University of Girona.
Josep Maria Castellet Díaz de Cossío, also known as José María Castellet, was a Spanish Catalan writer, poet, literacy critic, publisher and editor.
Maria Aurelia Capmany i Farnés was a Catalan novelist, playwright and essayist of Catalan descent. She was also a prominent feminist cultural and anti-Franco activist.
La Dona Catalana was a Catalan language home and fashion magazine. It was published by Editorial Bosch in Barcelona between 1925 and 1938. Starting on 9 October 1925, the weekly periodical came out every Friday, although there was some sporadic irregularity. It was founded by a pioneer of Catalan cinema, Magi Murià. He came from a working-class family whose social status was modest, but he learned French, film and journalism on his own. His daughter, the writer Anna Murià, wrote her first article for the magazine using the pseudonym "Roser Català"; even her father did not know who was the author of that article. A total of 681 issues were published. La Dona Catalana's last issue occurred on 16 December 1938, when Franco's troops began the Catalonia Offensive.
Maria Carratalà i Van den Wouver was a Catalan concert pianist, musicologist, music critic, translator and playwright.
Ramon Corts i Blay is a historian priest educated at Theological Seminary of Barcelona. He was ordained in 1979 and currently belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Barcelona.
