JOSEPH OLLER

 

He was a Catalan man that founded the Moulin Rouge in Paris, a place where girls danced very sexy dances and that became very popular. He was a very important business man too; he started to bet in the horse races and invented the Spanish lottery called “la quiniela”. 

He opened the Moulin Rouge in the "place Blanche", in Montmartre ( a very small town in Paris).           

First of all, Moulin Rouge was a very old brothel where men wanted the girls do sexy dances for them, so the Madame there started to let the girls do striptease. Years later, Moulin Rouge was only a place where girls danced. Every day, the dances were less sexy and it finally became a cabaret bar. In the cabaret, the girls lived and rehearse for hours, so Moulin Rouge became the best cabaret of Paris.

Apart of the Moulin Rouge, Joseph founded the horse races of Saint Germain in 1882. And in 1885 he open  a swimming pool with a gym, a sauna… in Paris that became very famous too.

  

JUDIT MASCÓ

Judit was born in Barcelona the 12th October 1969. She is a famous Catalan model. She is a model since she was 15 years old but she did 3 things at the same time because she studied  piano and normal studies too. She studied to be a model in Francina Models school.

She did fashion shows for Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Carolina Herrera, Escada, Loewe… In 1990 she finally rose to fame because of a special cover of Sports Illustrated that launched her internationally.

He has worked in international advertising campaigns for companies like Max Mara, Laurèl de Escada, Armand Bassi, Betty Barclay, Georges Rech, Mango, Swarovski, Majestic y Palmers Lingerie or cosmetics companies like Vitesse, Natura Bissé  Clairol, Lancaster, Clarins o Timotei etc.

She has worked as an actress too. She did small roles for movies such as "El largo invierno del 39" (“The long Winter of 39”)  o "Después del sueño" (“After the dream”). She has written two books “El libro de Judit Mascó” (“The book of Judit Mascó”) and “Modelo” (“Model”).

She got married to Eduardo Vicente (lawyer) in 1993.

She is has got a humanitarian role too because she helps some NGOs . For example, in 2000 she travelled to Florida  to meet Joaquín José Martínez, who was waiting in the death row.

Júlia Recordà
 Laura Parera

DANI PEDROSA

Daniel Pedrosa Ramal was born in Castellar del Vallès the 29th September 1985.
He's an international Grand Prix motorcycle racer, and he was the youngest rider to win the 250cc class.
He started riding a motorcycle when he was 6 years old and when he was 18 years old he won the 125cc class. However, he fell and he broken his ankles. When he started riding in the 250cc class, he broke his two ankles and later his shoulder, however he won the 250cc class title twice. Pedrosa made the move to 990cc Moto GP bikes in 2006, riding for Respol Honda. He finished second in the opening roun at Jerez in March 26th, 2006. He won his first MotoGP race in the Chinese Gran Prix, in May 14th, 2006. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. In the Malaysia Gran Prix he fell and hurt his knee. He became the Rookie of the year in Moto GP.
He's broken a lot of times his fingers and toes, also he's broken his knee and his left arm and his two collar bones.

              

Hector Pozo Guerrero
Roc Altarriba Palma

TONI BOU

Toni Bou's first race trophy was in 1999, when he obtained the Catalan Cadet Trials Championship title at the age of 12.
At the moment, he’s the best international motorcycle trials rider. He won the outdoor FIM Trial World Championship from 2007 to 2011 and the indoor one from 2007 to 2011, too. So, we can say that is one of the most successful riders in history. When he was 20 years old, Toni Bou was the second youngest rider to win the World Indoor Title and the youngest to do it on a 4-stroke motorbike.
Finally, we are going to mention his titles below:

1. 5 World Motorcycle Trials Champion: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
2. 5 World Motorcycle Trials Indoor Champion: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
3. 2 Spanish Trials Champion: 2006, 2009
4. 1 Spanish Trials Indoor Champion: 2009
5. 5 Trial des Nations: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
6. 3 Trial des Nations Indoor: 2006, 2007, 2008
7. 1 European youth cup: 2002

                                                                                                   

  by Miguel Galán and Jordi Cucurull

Polish Famous People

There are a lot of famous Polish people, you can find a long list of them on the Wikipedia website.
The students from Polish school have chosen names of 15 famous Polish people and collected some information about them.
Mateusz U. and Marcel K. have printed a short presentation about a Polish well-known writer , Józef Konrad Korzeniowski.

Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and then always with a marked Polish accent). He wrote stories and novels, predominantly with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit by the demands of duty and honour.

Conrad, an emotional man subject to fits of depression, self-doubt, and pessimism, disciplined his romantic temperament with an unsparing moral judgment. In 1894, aged 36, Conrad reluctantly gave up the sea, partly because of poor health and partly because he had become so fascinated with writing that he decided on a literary career. His first novel, Almayer's Folly, set on the east coast of Borneo, was published in 1895. Its appearance marked his first use of the pen name "Joseph Conrad"; "Konrad" was, of course, the third of his Polish given names, but his use of it – in the anglicised version, "Conrad" – may also have been an homage to the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz's patriotic narrative poem, Konrad Wallenrod. In April 1924 Conrad, who possessed a hereditary Polish status of nobility and coat-of-arms (Nałęcz), declined a (non-hereditary) British knighthood offered by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.Shortly after, on 3 August 1924, Conrad died of a heart attack. He was interred at Canterbury Cemetery, Canterbury, England, under his original Polish surname, Korzeniowski.
Novels
· Almayer's Folly (1895)
· An Outcast of the Islands (1896)
· The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897)
· Heart of Darkness (1899)
· Lord Jim (1900)
· The Inheritors (with Ford Madox Ford) (1901)
· Typhoon (1902, begun 1899)
· The End of the Tether (written in 1902; collected in Youth, a Narrative and Two Other Stories, 1902)
· Romance (with Ford Madox Ford, 1903)
· Nostromo (1904)
· The Secret Agent (1907)

FACUNDO BACARDI

Facundo Bacardi Massó, (Sitges, Barcelona, 1814 – Cuba, May 9, 1886) was a Catalan businessman. 

He followed his older brothers to Cuba, finding employment in his general store in Santiago. In 1844 he established his own mercantile shop.

In 1843 he married Amalia Moreau, and they had a lot of children Emilio, Juan, Facundo Jr., María, José and Amalia Jr.
In 1862 he founded "Bacardi, Boutellier, and Company", using capital supplied by Facundo's younger brother José. The icon of the brand is a bat.
In 1874, the company was named "Bacardi and Company". The company gained renown as the rum was sold in Cuba and even the wider world after winning prizes in international exhibitions.
In 1877 Facundo retired and his sons Emilio, who became the president, Facundo Jr., the master blender, and José the sales manager, continued with the company.
The next period of Cuban history was politically tumultuous, as the society struggled against Spanish imperialism.

By Roger Cos and

JOAN MIRÓ

Joan Miró i Ferrà was a famous Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramist. He is very important in Catalonia because of his brilliant works. His pictures have been sold around the world. His works are based on different topics, like his country or abstract ideeas which were the most original in the twentieth century. 

Miró was born in April 20th, 1893 in Barcelona and he studied at the Belles Arts school and at the Galí Academy. His work before 1920 was influenced by the brilliant colors of the Fauves, the fragmented forms of cubism and the two-dimensional Catalan romantic freschoes. In 1920 he moved to Paris, and he met Pablo Picasso, who influenced him in the art of surrealism.

He also did watercolors, pastels, collages, painting on copper, sculpture, theater designs and cartoons for tapestries.

The most important works he did are the large ceramic murals called ‘La paret de la lluna i la paret del sol’ (1957-1959) for the building of UNESCO in Paris, and the wall of the Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions of Madrid. Nowadays, its production can be seen in the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, ​​opened in 1975, and in most museums of contemporary art from all around the world.

Here, in Catalonia he did very important scultures like the dona i ocell, an abstract sculture decorated with mosaic. We can find it in the Park Joan Miró in Barcelona.Joan Miró died in Palma de Mallorca in 25th desember 1983.

By Emma Sellés and

ANTONI GAUDÍ

Antoni Gaudi was a modernist architect. He was born in Reus in 1852 and he died in Barcelona in 1926 before “La Sagrada Familia” was finished. It’s the biggest building that he designed, it’s still under instruction. He has done a lot of buildings in Barcelona. The most known Gaudi´s buildings are: “La Pedrera”or “casa Milà”, “Park Güell”, “La Casa Batlló”, “la Sagrada Familia”, “La Casa Güell”

“La Sagrada Familia" is a temple designed by Gaudi but is still in instruction. Last year the Pope came to La Sagrada Familia to bless the church that is inside of “La Sagrada Familia”. He celebrated a very big Mass. The central tower of the temple represents Jesus, another represents the Virgin and the others represent the evangelists.

Although La Sagrada Família isn't finished, it is still very beautiful to visit and to see how they are working to finish it.

Gaudí didn’t buildLa Casa Batlló he reformed it because the owners of “La Casa Batlló” asked him to do this job. On the front of the house, the balconies have the shape of bone which represent the victims a dragon, which is represented in the roof. The house represents Saint George's legend. The chimney is the sword that St. George stuck to the dragon.

“La Pedrera” is another house built by Gaudí. Their owners were the Milà family and this building is called “la Pedrera” because they had to bring many rocks to Barcelona and then they quaried the rocks in the house. ("Pedra" means rock in Catalan). The front of the house represents a snowed mountain. In the roof there are sculptures that seem fighters.

By Laura Colom and Ivette Sabanes

FAMOUS CATALAN PEOPLE

We have been working on the topic of famous Catalan people that we want our Polish partners to know about.

The fact is that we found so many famous people, and it was difficult to choose a number. We found artists, architects, businessmen, writers and poets, musicians and singers, fashion models, politicians, sports people, scientists, cooks....

Here is a list of the most important ones, and then the students in El Casal School chose one person and wrote about him or her in pairs. You will see what they have written about the chosen person in the next posts.

I hope you enjoy our work and that you learn about us a little bit more.

Artists: Aristide Maillol (scuptor and painter)

Joan Miró (artist)

Charlie Rivel (clown)

Salvador Dalí (surrealist artist)

Architects: Lluís Domènech i Muntaner (modernist architect, designed the Palau de la Música Catalana)

Antoni Gaudí (modernist architec, designed Sagrada Família)

Josep Puig i Cadafalch

Ricardo Bofill

Businessmen: Facundo Bacardí (founder of Bacardi rum)

Josep Oller (founder of Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris)

Enric Bernat (founder of chupa chups candy)

Writers and poets: Ramon Muntaner

Àngel Guimerà

Jacint Verdaguer

Narcís Oller

Joan Maragall

Josep Carner

Carles Riba

Josep Pla

Mercè Rodoreda

Miquel Martí Pol

Pere Calders

Salvador Espriu

Manuel de Pedrolo

Joan Brossa

Quim Monzó

Musicians and singers: Isaac Albéniz (composer)

Enric Granados (composer)

Pau Casals (cellist)

Victòria dels Àngels (soprano)

Montserrat Caballé (soprano)

Josep Carreras (tenor)

Joan Manuel Serrat (singer and author)

Pascal Comelade

Frederic Mompou (composer)

Lluis Llach (singer and composer)

Fashion models: Andrés Segura

Judit Mascó

Oriol Elcacho

Sports: Manuel Estiarte (waterpolo)

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (tennis)

Sergi Bruguera (tennis)

Àlex Corretja (tennis)

Albert Costa (tennis)

Tommy Robredo (tennis)

Alfonso "Sito" Pons (GP motorcycle racer)

Jordi Tarrés (motorcycle trial rider)

Àlex Crivillé (GP motorcyle racer)

Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (F1 driver)

Nani Roma (rally driver)

Sete Gibernau (GP motorcyle racer)

Emilio Alzamora (motorcycle racer)

Marc Gené (F1 driver)

Marc Coma (rally racer)

Adam Raga (motorcyle trial rider)

Tony Elías (moto2)

Dani Pedrosa (GP motorcycle racer, from Castellar del Vallès!!!)

Toni Bou (motorcyle trial rider)

Jaime Alguersuari (F1 driver)

Marc Márquez (motorcyle rider)

Laia Sanz (motorcyle trail rider)

Josep Guardiola (head coach of FC Barcelona)

Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona and Spain defender)

Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder)

Víctor Valdés (FC Barcelona and Spain goalkeeper)

Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona and Spain defender)

Cesc Fábregas (FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder)

Sergi Busquets (FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder)

Bojan Krkic (AS Roma and Spain striker)

Pau Gasol (NAB basketball player)

Raúl López (basketball player)

Juan Carlos Navaroo (NBA basketball player)

Rudy Fernandez (NBA basketball player)

Ricky Rubio (basketball player)

Nacho Solazabal (basketball player)

San Epifanio "Epi" (basketball player)

Scientists: Ildefons Cerdà (urban planner)

Narcís Monturiol (inventor of the submarine)

other scientists in Medicine, Biology, etc.

Cooks: Carme Ruscalleda

Ferran Adrià

Santi Santamaria

Sílvia Nicolàs