Casa Navàs will celebrate the inauguration of its reconstructed tower on Thursday, 12 November, at 8:00 p.m. with a major public event in Plaça del Mercadal. Under the title The Return of a Symbol: Reus Touches the Sky Again, the Modernist façade will become the stage for a show combining projections, music, light and personal accounts to bring back to life the story of this architectural feature, destroyed during the bombings of the Spanish Civil War. A full-band concert by Ginestà will bring the celebration to a close. The tower inauguration event will be broadcast live by Canal Reus Televisió and is sponsored by Vermuts Miró.
Journalist Coia Ballesté will host an evening designed to allow the public to rediscover the building from the square. The façade, windows and balconies will come to life through a staging created especially for the occasion. Under the artistic direction of Joan Maria Segura, the programme will feature, among other contributions, mapping by Alba G. Corral, the voice of Mariona Escoda and the Orfeó Reusenc choir, with the architecture of Casa Navàs serving as the central thread.
Casa Navàs, the setting for a journey through the memory of Reus
The celebration will begin with an audiovisual piece exploring the building’s heritage, historical and symbolic value, followed by the institutional segment and a poetic performance in eight languages. Casa Navàs will then take centre stage in a narrative journey through its Modernist splendour, the destruction caused by war and the recovery of one of the elements that once defined its silhouette.
The projections will visually transform the volumes and ornamental details of the façade, connecting the history of the building with that of the city. Light and sound will accompany this journey, moving from splendour to absence and from memory to reconstruction.
Mariona Escoda will perform live from Casa Navàs in a production that will also feature the voices of the Orfeó Reusenc. Musical performances and images will intertwine across different parts of the building until the central moment of the evening: the unveiling and illumination of the tower, which will once again rise above the Mercadal as a symbolic beacon for the city.
Artistic director Joan Maria Segura explained that “the events that took place at Casa Navàs could also be seen as a metaphor for what happened to us as a country during the Civil War and the dictatorship”, adding that “with this inaugural show, we want, in some way, to reclaim the historical memory of the building, but also that of our country, through a poetic, musical, visual and deeply emotional performance”.
A Ginestà concert to share the celebration
With the tower illuminated, the Mercadal will become the setting for celebrating its return. Ginestà will perform with the full band, with Casa Navàs as the backdrop, extending the evening and sharing this heritage milestone with the public.
Casa Navàs director Montse Grau highlighted the desire to involve the community: “For decades, many people have known Casa Navàs without its tower. On 12 November, we will be able to celebrate together that it is once again part of the building’s silhouette. We want it to be an emotional evening, open to the city, where the people of Reus feel part of this restoration and rediscover the building from the square.”
Restoring the original silhouette of Casa Navàs
The reconstruction of the tower has been made possible thanks to the initiative of Xavier Martínez, owner of Casa Navàs and CEO of MaserGrup. The project has restored one of the most distinctive elements of the building designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The tower disappeared on 26 March 1938 as a result of the bombings that struck the centre of Reus. Its restoration allows the building to recover part of the silhouette it had at the beginning of the 20th century, which for decades could only be seen in historical photographs.
Xavier Martínez, owner of the Modernist building, highlighted the commitment to heritage restoration: “The reconstruction of the tower reflects our determination to restore the architectural integrity of Casa Navàs and preserve its legacy for future generations.” He added: “This project goes beyond the building itself, because it restores an element that forms part of the memory and landscape of Reus. With this celebration, we want to share the result of this effort with the city.”
During the celebration, two fenced-off areas will be made available so that families can safely leave baby strollers: one in front of the Prioral de Sant Pere and another on Carrer de Salvador Espriu.
On 12 November, Plaça del Mercadal will become the meeting point for celebrating this return, in an evening where music, light and memory will accompany the recovery of a symbol of Reus.