La colección de patología animal de la Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (ASPB)De los mataderos de Barcelona a la Exposición “Alimentar Barcelona”

Resum

We aim to explain the historical context of a collection on veterinary heritage incontemporary Barcelona. The available data allow us to place the origins of this collectionin Barcelona in the 1920s. The Cuerpo de Veterinaria Municipal de Barcelona, createdin 1899, had organized the First Spanish Veterinary Congress, which took place in thecontext of the 1929 International Exhibition. They prepared a “veterinary exhibition” inthe Palacio de la Agricultura, with a set of paintings, murals, different sorts of teratologicalpreparations, taxidermy, skulls, and other pieces, together with the didactic material ofthe veterinary schools of Madrid and Zaragoza. These works were carried out by PauMartí Freixas, director and head of the Cuerpo de Veterinaria Municipal, and by otherveterinarians from the Cuerpo such as C. Ramon Danés Casabosch, F. Amela, Julio C.Rubio and Esteve Trull. A significant part of this exhibition was located in the buildingsof the General Abatoire of Barcelona, that was built in the expansion of the city in 1891.Those collections remained there, and continue to expand with other materials andphotographs throughout the 20th century until the closure of these facilities in 1979.The pieces in the Mercabarna Abatoire (in Zona Franca) were the remains preservedafter the official veterinarians moved to those facilities. Once the Mercabarna Abatoireclosed for good, the pieces were transferred to the Barcelona History Museum forrestoration, conservation and custody. Some of these pieces are now in the exhibition“Feeding Barcelona: city, supply and health”.