The Museum of Rural Life lies in the heart of a wonderful natural location on the Costa Daurada, quite near Barcelona and just a few minutes away from the magnificent Poblet Monastery – a World Heritage Site that is an awesome architectural complex forming Europe’s largest inhabited Cistercian abbey.
Founded to present and preserve the past of the Mediterranean rural world and to spread its cultural legacy, the expansion and renovation of the Museum of Rural Life in 2012 has made it one of our country’s most modern museums, allowing visitors to see what life was like in the rural areas in the past, what it is like today and what its outlook is for tomorrow.
The traditional ways of life in the countryside are presented here. Visitors can see the tools and machinery once used to grow crops and to make different products, especially including olive oil, flour and wine.
One can also see how craftsmen (blacksmiths, saddlers, woodmen, basket-makers, ropers and others) carried out their jobs to provide the country folk with the tools and other objects they needed to live and work.
Likewise, various types of carts are shown, ranging from those used for work in the fields and the ones for carrying goods, to carts for travelling and for burials. This display is fittingly closed by a tractor.
A collection of terracotta figures, another of crèches, a highly representative selection of local flora and fauna, and a display on the mechanisation and industrialisation process up to the present are other important sections of the Museum, which are presented in very interesting and well produced audiovisuals.
All told, at the calm and easy pace of an old-time country cart, the Museum of Rural Life leads you along a path from the rich heritage of our past to the modern world of today. It is a pleasant and rewarding journey because in order to know where we are and where we are heading, we need to know where we have been.
OPENING TIMES
- Tuesday to Saturday:
10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
- Sundays and holidays:
10.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.
- Mondays: By prior appointment only.
Special days
7, 9 and 30 April; 4, 5 and 24 June; 28 July; 10 September; 12 October; 6 and 8 December: from 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
5 January, 24 and 31 December: from 10.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.
Closed
non-bank holiday Mondays; 1 and 6 January; 31 July; 25 and 26 December
INFORMATION
The Museum of Rural Life invites you to journey through the past and the present of country life, with the latest exhibition design features to make your visit a truly memorable experience.
- 5,500 sq.m of permanent exhibition space
- 18 audiovisuals
- Free Audio guide
- Ecological farm garden
- Architectural barrier-free facility
- Accessible toilets
- Wheelchair available
- Motor coach parking area
- Shop
- Free WiFi zone
- Cloakrooms
- Close to Barcelona (120 km) and the Costa Daurada (40 km)
- Right near Poblet Monastery (2 km)
FEES
- General admission: €6.00.
- Reduced rate: €4.50 (pensioners and holders of a youth hostel card, student’s card, youth card, RACC card or cultural card of the Cistercian Route).
- Free admission: up to 18 years of age, teachers, disabled and unemployed persons and members of the ICOM.
- Group rate: €4.50 per person; €4.00 per person for elderly groups.
- Admission fee for schoolchildren (with a guided tour or educational workshop): €3.90 per student.
CONTACT & BOOKING
Carretera de Montblanc, 35
43440 L’Espluga de Francolí
info@museuvidarural.cat
Tel.: +34 977 870 576