Catalan farmhouses and farming families in Catalonia between the 16th and early 20th centuries

Abstract

The masia (translated here as the Catalan farmhouse), or the building where people reside on a farming estate, is the outcome of the landscape where it is located. It underwent major changes from its origins in the 11th century until the 16th century, when its evolution peaked and a prototype was reached for Catalonia as a whole. For this reason, in the subsequent centuries the model did not change, but building elements were added to it in order to adapt the home to the times. Catalan farmhouses are a historical testimony, and their changes and enlargements always reflect the needs of their inhabitants and the technological possibilities of the period.