A SPACE FOR CREATION, THOUGHT AND DISSEMINATION OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSICS
La Casa dels Clàssics is a devoted space to vindicating the validity of the classics of all time and spreading them among a wide, diverse, and transversal public.
By bringing them closer to schools, the media, politics, and the streets, La Casa dels Clàssics aims to make the classics of all time relevant once again.
LA BERNAT METGE
It began in 1922 as a cultural and intellectual project by Francesc Cambó and Joan Estelrich for their collection of Greek and Latin classics, the Bernat Metge Collection.
In the last century, Bernat Metge has contributed to the country’s culture in more than 430 publications.
In February 2017, the cooperative group Som took over from the Institut Cambó in the management and edition of the collection, with the intention of continuing to promote one of the most important projects in Catalan culture and promote publishing and the dissemination of the classics. This is where La Casa dels Clàssics comes from.
Escriptor, traductor i editor. És autor de la tesi doctoral L’hàbit de la dificultat, que va rebre el Premi Extraordinari de Doctorat. Ha traslladat al català obres de Plató, Goethe, Rilke, Papadiamandis, Peter Sloterdijk i Thomas Bernhard, entre d’altres. A més de diversos assajos, ha publicat la novel·la Els estranys, que va ser distingida amb el Premi Llibreter i amb el Premi Òmnium a la Millor Novel·la en Llengua Catalana de l’Any. A Els fundadors ha explorat els orígens de la Bernat Metge i les relacions entre clàssics, política i cultura contemporània.
Professora del Departament de Societat, Política i Sostenibilitat d’ESADE i directora del Programa Vicens Vives. Investigadora de l’Institut d’Innovació Social, on ha publicat llibres com La RSE ante el espejo. Doctora en Filosofia amb una tesi sobre diàleg socràtic. Impulsora de l’Institute for Socratic Dialogue, una Fundació que utilitza el diàleg socràtic en contextos de postconflicte com a eina d’inclusió i de promoció de la justícia. El seu treball es pot veure en els documentals Filosofia a la presó i In Dialogue.
Llicenciat en Ciències Empresarials i MBA a ESADE. Vinculat al món de la cultura des de fa 25 anys: Grup Planeta (1996-2006); Director General a Grup62 (2006-2014). Ha estat President del Gremi d’Editors de Catalunya (2013) i de la Federación del Gremio de Editores de España (2014). Vinculat a Som des de 2015.
Editor, professor i traductor. Llicenciat en Filologia Clàssica i en Filologia Catalana, és autor de la tesi doctoral Comentari referencial al cant XI de l’«Odissea», que va rebre el premi Eduard Valentí, de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Clàssics, i el primer accèssit en el XXIV Premi Claustre de Doctors de la Universitat de Barcelona. És professor associat a la Universitat de Barcelona, on ensenya tradició clàssica i llengua grega, i imparteix cursos sobre literatura i mitologia clàssica a l’Acadèmia La Central i puntualment en altres institucions. Ha traduït L’elogi de la calvície de Sinesi de Cirene i la poesia fragmentària de Cal·lí i Tirteu. Soci treballador de la cooperativa Som* des del 2020.
Llicenciada en Psicologia per la UAB, desenvolupa tasques d’administració, suport i control logístic editorial. Sòcia treballadora de la cooperativa Som* des del 2020.
Graduada en Història i Màster en Gestió del patrimoni cultural i en Museologia. Coordina les activitats i la comunicació de La Casa dels Clàssics. Ha treballat com a professional autònoma en la creació de continguts i propostes educatives per a museus i l’administració pública i coordinat la revista Ebre 38. Sòcia treballadora de la cooperativa Som* des del 2020.
In 1918, Francesc Cambó told Josep Maria de Segarra: «If I became a millionaire one day —I would never become a millionaire because here I am without a penny— my goal in Catalonia is to find something significant in the face of the Classics, as I believe that the most lacking aspects of Catalan culture are precisely the reading of the Classics; do you understand me?»
A HISTORICAL PROJECT
A few years later, in 1922, after making a fortune, Cambó brought together a good number of intellectuals to make his dream come true: Bernat Metge, a rigorous, entertaining and enjoyable collection of Greek and Latin classics. Bilingual, which sought to strengthen the Catalan language and elevate the country’s cultural life. In a speech, Cambó proclaimed: «In these times of disturbance and anarchy that humanity is experiencing, and that we suffer so severely in Catalonia, the diffusion of classical culture can do great good: it can bring us a sense of balance and measure that we have not always had in Catalonia.»
In 1923, when the first volume was published, the director of the project, Joan Estelrich, was twenty-six years old, and Carles Riba, the most distinguished translator in the collection, was not yet there in his thirties, like other collaborators at the time. The amount of new talent that Bernat Metge was able to capture is extraordinary.
Francesc Cambó
Francesc Cambó, Joan Estelrich and Carles Riba: it would not be easy to find three more different personalities in Catalonia at that time. Cambó put the initial push, a naive passion for the ancients, typical of the men of action of the time, and the money needed. Estelrich, the first director, added humanistic ideology and a left hand. And Riba everything else: knowledge, method, literary sensitivity, depth. Rarely did these individuals have to spontaneously come to an agreement. But the power of the project made them forget their suspicions, dragged them all three in the same direction.
Els fundadorsRaül Garrigasait
Cambó confesses to Josep Maria de Segarra his desire to undertake a project related to the classics.
1922
Cambó announces the creation of the Bernat Metge Foundation, a collection of Greek and Latin classics translated into Catalan. Joan Estelrich has been appointed director.
Francesc Cambó
1923
The first volume of the collection is published, the philosophical poem On the Nature of Things of Lucreci, translated by Joaquim Balcells. Since then, several have been published regularly volumes each year.
1926
Cambó founded Editorial Alpha, a company that would henceforth take charge of all the publications promoted by him, starting with the Greek and Latin classics.
1932-1934
The complete translation of the tragedies of Aeschylus is published, edited by Carles Riba.
The last volume before the Spanish Civil War ended, On Obligations of Cicero, was translated into English by Eduard ValentÍ.
1942
The first volume after the war, Lives of Alexander and Caesar, by Plutarch, is published. The translator was Carles Riba, but his name is not mentioned because the regime had retaliated against him.
1946
The regular publication of Bernat Metge is resumed, without any specific permission from censorship.
1947
Francesc Cambó dies. Her daughter Helena and the husband of her, Ramon Guardans, continue funding the collection.
1949
They start publishing between three and five volumes a year.
Joan Estelrich
1951
Volume number 100 is published, the first volume of the Tragedies of Sophocles.
1951-1964
All the tragedies of Sophocles are published with a translation by Carles Riba.
1958
Joan Estelrich, director of the Bernat Metge, dies. Carles Riba becomes its director.
1959
Carles Riba dies. The management of the collection passes to a Board of Directors of which Miquel Dolç and Josep Vergés, among others, are part of it.
Carles Riba
1968
It finally doubles the total number of volumes published before the war.
1972-1977
Virgil’s Aeneid is published with a translation by Miquel Dolç.
Demonstration in Barcelona (1977)
1999
Ramon Guardans and Helena Cambó create the Institut Cambó, the foundation that will manage and will continue the Bernat Metge collection from that moment.
2007
The Institute Cambó leadership changed with the death of Ramon Guardans. His widow, Helena Cambó, has taken the role. His son, Francesc Guardans, has assumed the position of executive vice president.
Helena Cambó
2009-2012
A collection of fifty facsimile volumes by Bernat Metge is distributed in newsstands with great public success. As part of this project, more than a thousand Catalan schools receive the collection for their libraries.
2017
The cooperative group Som takes over from the Institut Cambó in the management of Bernat Metge, with the aim of promoting it. La Casa dels Clàssics is born.
2018
Edition of the bibliophile work Aurea dicta, by Miquel Barceló.
Aurea dicta
2019
La Casa dels Clàssics organizes the first Festival Clàssics and starts the Bernat Metge Universal and Bernat Metge Essencial. Publication of Homer’s Iliad with translation by Pau Sabaté and prologue by Enric Casasses.
2020
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe translated by Esther Tallada with a prologue by Albert Sánchez Piñol. The Festival Clàssics is back with a digital edition due to the COVID pandemic.
2021
Helena Cambó, president of the Cambó Institute, dies. Publication of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky with translation by Miquel Cabal and prologue by Francesc Serés.
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