A €3,000 award to promote the study of early modern art and culture in the country
Manresa is promoting a new initiative in historical and artistic research with the launch of the 2025 “Museu del Barroc de Catalunya” Research Grant, which replaces the former Pere Ignasi Puig i Simon Award.
The grant, endowed with €3,000, aims to support research or dissemination projects related to the history of art and culture in Catalonia from 1522 to the Napoleonic Wars. Projects may adopt human, social, artistic, literary, musical, philosophical, or heritage-based perspectives.
The application deadline is October 17th, 2025, and the award will be presented on October 21st at the Teatre Conservatori, as part of the Premis Lacetània de les Arts i la Cultura, organized by Òmnium Cultural Bages – Moianès.
From the Ignatian Way to baroque art
The new grant is a continuation of the Pere Ignasi Puig i Simon Award, created in 2014 to promote the study of Ignatius of Loyola’s legacy as part of the “Manresa 2022 Transforma” program.
Now, the Museu de Manresa – Museu del Barroc de Catalunya takes over and broadens the focus to the artistic and historical research on the early modern period in Catalonia, with special attention to proposals related to the Ignatian Way or heritage from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The award is endowed with €3,000 gross, to be paid in three installments: 25% upon the official announcement, 25% upon approval of the project outline, and 50% upon acceptance of the final work.
“With this grant, we reaffirm Manresa’s commitment to research, culture, and heritage. It is an opportunity to discover new perspectives on the early modern period and to share them throughout the country,” said Tània Infante Martínez, Councilor for Culture and Language at the Manresa City Council.
In addition, the City Council will do the design and the digital publication with ISBN of the winning work as part of the Pare Ignasi Puig i Simon Collection, as well as its dissemination. The author will receive 15 free copies if there is a physical edition of the work.
The call is open to every natural or legal person that present a project following the rules. The assessment rules come to a maximum of 12 points and include the adaptation to the aim of the award, the methodology, the technical rigour, the innovation and relevance, the tecnical quality, the candidat’s profil and the references to Manresa and the Ignatian Way.
The jury will be led by the culture councilor of Manresa’s City Council and built by representatives of the Museu del Barroc de Catalunya, the Arxiu Comarcal del Bages, the Fundació Turisme I Fires de Manresa, the academic world, the Xarxa de Museus d’Art, the Generalitat de Catalunya (program Territori Barroc), the Centre d’Estudis del Bages and the Fundació Cova de Sant Ignasi.
The call for this award will have the support of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), the Xarxa de Museus d’Art de Catalunya, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The works can be presented until October 17th, 2025, through the Electronic Office of Manresa’s City Council (www.manresa.cat) or through e-mail at info@museudelbarroc.cat, with confirmation of the reception.
