Water is the substance that has most strongly influenced the historical, social and economic development of that municipal district down to our own time. The
Water Museum, set in the oldest part of the town, explains the story of that relationship.
Mas Llorens, a fortified house dating from the twelfth century, harbours within its walls a fundamental part of the history of
Salt. That building, built beside the church of Sant Cugat, very close to the agricultural land irrigated by water drawn from the river
Ter, has witnessed the transformation of the district brought about by utilising the river. Canal building, washing places, irrigation channels, mills, little power stations, industries… and the decisive role of the
Monar irrigation channel, which dates from 1346, have all influenced the make-up of the landscape and the pursuits of those living there. The Museum shows us how the river has been used through photographs and objects related to a very specific past and present. The permanent exhibition is divided into three thematic areas that explain water usage over history: “The natural water cycle”, “Water and traditional society”, and “Water and industrial society”. On show in the various rooms are everything from machinery from the factories that have featured so prominently in the city’s history to a scale model of an industry, intended to help us understand how it worked.
An old textile factory.
Without water, the agricultural land of Salt would not exist, and its textile industry would not have fuelled the growth of the town up to its present-day 30,000 inhabitants. The agricultural, manufacturing and power-generation uses of water reproduced and described in those rooms help us to grasp how this substance has directed and modelled the development of the Salt area.