The sculptural Carassa that elegantly adorns the corner of the façade of Mirallers and Vigatans streets became famous in 1980. Faced with the municipal remodeling of that historic house, the unfounded fear prevailed that such a showy singularity would disappear; As a result of the notable journalistic echo deserved, the fact of relating it as an advertisement for a brothel added malice. Hence it led to the comment that all the Carasses had the same meaning; Well, it turns out that some, yes and others, no. It deserves to start with this one.
Already in medieval times the custom proliferated in Levantine lands of marking the brothel with a phallus, a symbol of Greek and Roman tradition, engraved on the door; In Barcelona, such an image was never used and a chiseled head was chosen on the façade. But the famous Carassa mentioned above is not related to this information mission.
In medieval times the custom proliferated in Levantine lands of marking the brothel with a phallus; such an image was never used in Barcelona
This is how Antoni de Bofarull (1821-1892) thought, and his taking sides deserves to be taken into account, given his culture and prestige. Historian, writer, promoter of the recovery of the Jocs Florals and family of renowned archivists, which led him to be an officer of the Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó; Travelers, foreigners or not, often praise him in his books for having taken advantage of his wisdom during his time at the aforementioned institution to investigate. Bofarull published in 1847 his Guide-cicerone of Barcelona , in which he also demonstrated his fine and detailed knowledge of the city.
© Alex Garcia
carassa_mestres_casals_i_martorell_barcelona
In addition to denying the relationship with a brothel, Bofarull reports on other heads that did have it, which increases interest as they have disappeared: Ample, 6; Petri-txol, 16. Other authors add these data: Comerç, 89-93; Carabassa, 7.
On the aforementioned Carassa there is another aspect that must be valued: the stylistic and the environmental. Already Luis Monreal Tejada, an accredited art historian, had pointed out in the middle of the last century that he remembered the heads of the consecrated local sculptors Jordi Joan and Pere ça Anglada. Along the same lines, the Heritage Catalog , by emphasizing that it might be a vulgarized version, not without dexterity, of the androgynous features of the angels that Pere ça Anglada had captured in his most cultured result in his Sant Rafael on the façade of the Town Hall.
© Àlex Garcia
Carrassa del Gotic
Not only do I join in with this interpretation, but there is another work by this refined sculptor that is even closer to the Carassa: one of the angels (not the one reproduced on the cover but inside the masterful monographic study of M. Rosa Terés on the artist, published in 1987 by Artestudi), in the form of a hanging corbel that crowns the corners of the cathedral’s pulpit. This probability fits with the fact that a sculptor from this period acted on the façade of a building that, as Víctor Balaguer claimed, had been built some three centuries earlier.
The well-known history of the house, which is elegantly enhanced by the corner of Mirallers and Vigatans, allows us to deduce that it was always kept in the hands of owners of good social standing, and it would be reasonable to exclude the drift in lupanar. It is important to add that it was not a prostitution zone at that time. In short, it is not a Carassa (by the way, family name given to the neighboring street), but a category ornamental artistic resource.
© Álex Garcia
Carrassa del Gotic
The following Carasses are still visible: the big head of a satyr on the corner of Mosques and Flassaders streets, which has been nicknamed Papamosques, an easy resource to fit not only with the name of the street, but also relate it to the puppet from the cathedral of Burgos. We have to look for another grotesque stubborn at the height of a third floor in Panses street, as it remains unnoticed.
The sculpture that appeared in Calle Claveguera, 1, renamed in 1957 as Mestres Casals i Martorell, has not disappeared, since in the extensive demolition of houses practiced there it was placed in a safe place in the Museum of History of Barcelona (Muhba). His style matches the one he wears in Mirallers-Vigatans. And neither is it a Carassa nor did it point to any brothel, being a pious androgynous cherub with wings and all. Despite this, they ostensibly feminized him by assigning him the nickname of La Caterina, a whore cited in medieval texts as the wife of the pimp Pedro lo Portugués. Same: urban legend in action.
