Hidden secrets inside Finca Pedro i Pons and its garden

The group gathers at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons.
The group gathers at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons.
Research
(29/05/2018)

Itʼs 11 a.m. and the day looks lovely. About thirty people gather at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons of the University of Barcelona, at the bottom of Vallvidrera. Apart from the joy of seeing the skyline of the city, the group is waiting for the beginning of the first session of a series of tours inside this house, which is open to the public for the first time, together with the botanical tours in the garden of this villa, organized by La UB Divulga.

The group gathers at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons.
The group gathers at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons.
Research
29/05/2018

Itʼs 11 a.m. and the day looks lovely. About thirty people gather at the entrance of Finca Pedro i Pons of the University of Barcelona, at the bottom of Vallvidrera. Apart from the joy of seeing the skyline of the city, the group is waiting for the beginning of the first session of a series of tours inside this house, which is open to the public for the first time, together with the botanical tours in the garden of this villa, organized by La UB Divulga.

Heterogeneous heritage

The tour in this house is organized by the Office of Institutional Relations and Protocol of the University of Barcelona to show its cultural heritage. Ramon Dilla, Maria Torras and Cèlia Ramírez, who know the uniqueness of the figure of Agustí Pedro i Pons, are in charge of telling the secrets of this villa, which was purchased by the doctor Pedro i Pons in 1960 and which was his residence until he died. They start this tour telling about the current connection between this house and the University: “Pedro i Pons gave the villa to the UB and there are now studies on Diplomacy here, and thereʼs the Doctorsʼ Senate and the Ombudsman, apart from being the headquarters of the Pedro i Pons Foundation, which gives grants to students from all knowledge areas to study abroad”.

Then, some glimpse on the history of the house to tell them it was an old masia, owned by the Catalan family Mumbrú, from the 16th century, known as Can Mestres. Then they explain some anecdotes for the most curious ones: “actually, the Mumbrú family has a neo-Gothic pantheon in the cemetery of Sarrià, which is projected by Agustí Font, who was a student of Elies Rogent, the architect of the Historical Building of the UB. Everything is related”, says Maria Torras. Visitors see the different rooms of the house while they listen to the stories and details of the house, which gives them a hint of how Doctor Agustí Pedro i Pons was: “despite being a doctor, he was very keen on arts and humanities, and this heritage is really heterogeneous and combines pieces with a great artistic value and antique pieces, with copies of pictorial works and some portraits and bust (in the entrance of the house), as well as his diplomas”, says Ramon Dilla.

“Was he married? Did he have children?”, asks a visitor. “No, he didnʼt have children. At least, none acknowledged as his own”, adds Dilla. “So this house was just for him?”, says another visitor. The others laugh. “Yes. He lived alone here, but he had the help living here too”, adds Cèlia Ramírez. The tour makes them find out he came from a modest family and his parents were innkeepers in Pau Clarís street, but he enrolled in the Faculty and was only 28 when he was awarded the Internal Medicine Chair at the UB. “He wrote the thesis in 15 days and got an outstanding mark”, highlights Dilla. “And a doctorʼs salary could cover everything?”, asks a woman. “Think that he had his own Clinic and the Chair. He had several positions, was dean of the Faculty of Medicine and organized international conferences”, add the guides. In this sense, it is noteworthy the fact that the lack of political memberships favoured him. He had contacts but never positioned himself and this favoured him in the Republican period and after Francoʼs dictatorship.

They also say that, apart from the medical field, his interest in art led him to work on the creation of Teatre Romea and was the patron of a literary collection of plays which is available in the network of Public Libraries of Barcelona. And the most hidden secret: Pedro i Pons did not even leave the legitimate to his family members. He left everything on his will. The villa was for the University of Barcelona; medicine books were left to the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, and the other books were given to the National Library of Catalonia. The visit finishes after visiting the kitchen, which is well kept, the library, and the rooftop.
 

The wonderful world of flowers

The visitors go to the garden to meet the botanist José Manuel Blanco, who starts his tour saying that “most people see flowers as some background screen, as decoration. They donʼt move and they are always the same: with a common structure, leaves, etc.” Blanco says that although all plants need the same elements to grow (light, water, nutrients), the strategies they use to get those are different depending on their type.

The botanist has the attention of all visitors already. “Apart from growing, what does a plant do?”, he asks. “It reproduces”, answer some of the people. “Exactly. And to do so they need flowers”. Flowers and pollination offer a lot to learn for an hour. Blanco will tell them flowers are “modified leaves, but leaves, after all”, and that their morphology depends on the insect that pollinates them. “The air acts as a pollinator too”, says one of the visitors. “Yes. But here, our plants undergo reproduction through the insects and therefore flowers have some attractiveness: scents, colors and a reward: nectar and pollen”, he says.

Blanco shows some flowers in the garden and tells about the inflorescence and its uses: “insects can see them from afar and they guarantee pollen will be dispersed”. Then he shows them a fig: “this is neither a fruit nor a flower. Itʼs an inflorescence”, The visitors look shocked. The botanist opens it to show the part we eat, which is the feminine flower, but which also has male flowers. Then he explains the complex system of pollination of flowers for the more than 600 species of Ficus in the world. “Figs have developed a particular relation with a species of bee that lives inside and outside the flower”. His explanation is so interesting that a girl is standing with her mouth open. “You are shocked now, arenʼt you?”, he asks. “Itʼs like science fiction!”, she says. Everyone laughs.

Time flies and the visit has to end. Before finishing the tour, a woman asks about invasive species. Blanco says there is no worry for them: “invasive species can be a problem but we donʼt have to make a big deal out of it. Many of them come to stay and if there isnʼt a solution to that, we shouldnʼt have to invest a lot of money in it. We have to protect what we have. You never know if a new species will be useful in the future”.
The tour in the Finca gives sense to a quote by Confucius, written in the wall of this garden: “Give me this in life and it will be enough: a house full of books and a garden full of flowers”.