This museum in the industrial neighbourhood of Rec presents a general overview of the use of leather in different cultures and shows the legacy of the city’s leather tanning industry from the beginnings of manufacturing to modern production.
Igualada Leather Museum and Anoia Regional Museum occupies two emblematic buildings of the main industries of Igualada, primarily the manufacture of cotton and leather. In Cal Boyer —former textile factory and current headquarters of the Museum— leather objects, tools and machines are displayed which bear testimony to the history of tanning in Igualada. The section on Man and Water reveals a general view of the qualities of water and its use through a collection of hydraulic tools and inventions, while a channel for experiments explains some of the applications of water to energy and industry, A few metres away you can visit the Cal Granotes tannery. One of the attractions of the Museum is without a doubt the showcasing of the artisan tanning of rough cow leather, transporting visitors to pre-industrial Igualada.
In 1949, after years of study and preservation of the heritage by the Centre for Regional Studies in Igualada, the Museum of the City opened its doors. The initial sections were natural sciences, archaeology, ancient and modern art, history, folklore and local cartography. At the same time, work was being carried out towards the opening of a section devoted exclusively to tanning, and in 1954 the monographic Museum of Leather was inaugurated.
In 1983, the Town Council, the Service of Museums of the Generalitat and the Tanners’ Guild bought the Cal Granotes tannery. The Town Council also purchased Cal Boyer, a former textile factory, to rehabilitate it as the new headquarters of the Museum. The move began in 1991. The new permanent exhibitions focused on the industrial tanning heritage, becoming an industrial museum of reference in Catalan museology. In the late 1990s the Regional Museum of Anoia, which became known as the Museum of Leather of Igualada and Regional Museum of Anoia, was declared a section of the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia and became part of its Territorial System.
Museum:
Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 am to 2 pm
Thursdays and Fridays from 10 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 6.30 pm. Exhibition hall until 8 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11 am to 2 pm
Closed on Mondays and on 24, 25, 26, 31 December and 1 and 6 January.
Former Tannery of Cal Granotes:
Meeting point and ticket sales in the Cal Boyer central building.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12 pm to 2 pm
Thursdays and Fridays from 12 pm to 2 pm and from 5 pm to 6.30 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 12 pm to 2 pm
Closed on Mondays and on 24, 25, 26, 31 December and 1 and 6 January.
For arranged groups, please consult wider timetables.
