Casa d’Areny-Plandolit Launches 10th ‘Canya als museus’ with Modernisme Festival

The Casa d’Areny-Plandolit museum launches its 10th ‘Canya als museus’ programme on 28 March with a Modernisme festival celebrating 40 years of public access.

Organised by the Ministry of Culture’s Museums and Monuments area, the event highlights preserved original features like the recently restored sofas and chairs in the main room, a chess table, and period wallpaper. Rut Casabella, head of Museums and Monuments, said these elements prompted the monographic theme. The day starts at noon with a guided tour of key Modernisme highlights, ending in Andorra’s only historic garden with vermut aperitifs. From 6pm, attendees can join live music, theatrical animation, and tastings of late 19th- to early 20th-century recipes. Reservations are required due to limited capacity, with period dress recommended.

The anniversary coincides with recent museographic upgrades, including repainting the baron’s room and repositioning the portrait of Maria Dolors Parella, the baroness of Senaller and first wife of Don Guillén d’Areny-Plandolit. Staff discovered an empty secret wall cupboard there. Other changes feature a cinnamon-tobacco-vanilla scent dispenser in the library for sensory immersion, rearranged furniture in the baroness Carolina Plandolit’s bedroom, repainting of the music room, new bathrooms, a pigeon-deterrent system on the facade, improved exterior lighting, and a children’s educational corner in a former storage area. The dentist’s room—once home to a giraffe skull—now displays the animal’s full skeleton alongside a preserved Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm specimen in formol, evoking a cabinet of curiosities. An experimental hologram system recounts Don Guillén’s life, installed in 2022. Plans include work on a lamp and armour this year, prioritising safety, accessibility, and visitor experience.

Casabella and Joan-Marc Joval, head of Cultural Promotion, unveiled the programme on Thursday, emphasising its draw for locals despite small venues. “Even with limited capacity in our compact museums, we always fill up,” Casabella noted. Joval added that the activities blend playfulness with critical perspectives on heritage.

The series, running to June, continues with an Easter egg hunt at Ordino’s Casal on 3-4 April. On 18 April, a Sispony village tour ends at Casa Rull to explore its film history, including *El fred que crema*, *El mal donat*, and a *Brujas* teaser. The fifth Jornades del Romànic feature Martí Gironell’s talk on 14 May at 7pm at Espai Columba, a 15 May visit to Sant Joan de Caselles, iconography-focused activities on 16 May by Juan Antonio Olañeta, and family events at Columba and Romanesque churches on 16-17 May. It closes on 4 June at Casa Rull with University of Andorra professor Cristina Yáñez on Andorra during the Second World War, plus open doors at national heritage sites for International Museum Day.