The remains of the cement factory highlight the spectacular nature of one of the most important manufacturing plants of Catalan industry. Visitors to the museum can see the first cement factory in Catalonia and the manufacturing process for Portland cement.
The factory is currently known as the Castellar de n’Hug Cement Museum, a dynamic centre which showcases the first industrial cement manufacturing complex in Catalonia.
The visit to the museum provides an understanding of the impressive set of remains from this industrial complex built by a group of individuals in the early twentieth century. The factory supplied cement at a time of great growth of the industrial society, in need of new infrastructures as well as locations and new production spaces.
In 1901 Eusebi Güell, a well-known figure of the Catalan bourgeoisie who was linked to almost all sectors of the economy, founded the cement manufacturing firm Companyia General d’Asfalts i Pòrland, SA Asland in Barcelona along with other partners. That year construction began on the cement factory in Clot del Moro, a unique piece of architecture of great importance.
The factory was in operation from 1904 to 1975. Its last owners, the company Lafarge-Asland, sold the factory to the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1996 for a symbolic sum of 498,000 pesetas (3,000 euros). The Museum is currently linked to the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC). The factory and its surroundings were declared Cultural Asset of National Interest, in the category of historic monument, in 2005.
Consult Museum webpage.
