The Solsonès County Council is a supra-municipal entity with competences of waste collection, social services, tourism and culture. Within the area of culture, one of the tasks is the realization of historical memory recovery activities.
The Lacetans Studies Center (CEL) was created in 1995 with the aim of promoting and disseminating research, dissemination, study and conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of Solsonès. The organization currently has four sections:
- Archaeology: The archeology section carries out actions aimed at studying and protecting first-rate archaeological sites from ancient and medieval times
- Nature: research, conservation, study and dissemination of the natural heritage of the region
- History: study, reflection and dissemination of the history of Solsonès, with special emphasis on the period from the proclamation of the Second Republic to the democratic transition.
- Ethnology
The Lacetans Studies Center participates, together with other entities, in the different manifestations of the cultural life of the region. It also collaborates with the institutions of Solsonès, such as the town halls, the county council and especially with the Arxiu Marcal del Solsonès with whom he jointly edits the scientific and cultural dissemination magazine Oppidum, as well as the collection Studies and texts of Solsonès , dedicated to works that by their extension exceed the Oppidum magazine, and that involve a greater depth in the development of the subject discussed.
History of the entity
The Center for Lacetans Studies was born in 1995 as an initiative of amateurs, professionals and lovers of culture with a strong desire to study and disseminate the heritage, but also with the aim of filling an existing gap in front of the lack of heritage sensitivity throughout the region. In part, this gap has been filled with content thanks to the work carried out by the CEL, a task which, having reached the meridian of the fifteenth anniversary, must be continued and consolidated as the main objective.
The Lacetans Studies Center has had, in its various and multidisciplinary activities, an intense and profitable history. A brushstroke of the professional and human effort that the CEL has made in favor of the dissemination, study and communication of the Solsonès region, its people, its towns, its heritage, its landscape and its history The transmission of this knowledge has been designed with the intention of reaching each and every citizen, from those most interested in research to the classrooms of our schools, passing through rural areas and reaching the agreements with universities . So, the task of the Lacetans Studies Center to promote and energize culture as a transversal axis of the wealth of Solsonès has been a successful objective.
Archeology Section
The first area worked on by the CEL was the archaeological heritage of the region, excavations with certainly relevant results support the scientific rigor of its teams. This consolidated section paved the way for social and scientific dissemination projects such as the creation of the magazine Oppidum, of indisputable quality.
The activities and studies of the different sections of the CEL have been accompanied by joint projects and participations with other study centers and with collaborations with entities, administrations, research centers and renowned scholars. The celebration of the tenth anniversary was aimed at consolidating the work done but with a clear and determined future perspective. In 2006, it took shape with the design of the El Solsonès project, Culture and Nature in the heart of Catalonia. Project that led to the implementation of the Day of the Municipality in all the towns of the territory as a first presentation and a first balance of this heritage that in Solsonès, worked rigorously, would configure this Museum Territory that the region has as its most precious value and that apart from providing knowledge it can become an Integrated Cultural Tourist Product. The dynamism and collaboration to make this project a success also lies with the participation of local administrations and entities. This is why it is essential to continue and expand the close collaboration that, in connection with the tenth anniversary, was established with the County Councils, the Forestry Technology Center of Catalonia, the Solsonès County Council and the Generalitat. For the CEL, this participation is key in this project which must have continuity, and which must manage to be a project of all, transversal and shared because our wealth is our heritage. It is a recovery of a past and a natural landscape that will allow us to face the challenges, needs and development of our future.
Solsonès Nature Group
Later, in 2002, the incorporation of a group of professionals and lovers of natural heritage, The Solsonès Nature Group, generated a new dynamic of awareness and knowledge of the natural heritage of our regions. A group of people with potential and a calendar of activities rich in content, dynamic in participation and numerous in participants.
History Section
In 2004, the Contemporary History Section joined the CEL. A stage that had never been treated in a generic and rigorous way in a region that has lived for many years closed in silence in the face of such traumatic events as the Civil War and the long Francoist night. A task of recovering that memory and historical research has been combined with various activities commemorating democratic values – such as those of the IIa. Republic -, dissemination, conferences and documentaries. The high civic and symbolic value involved in paying tribute to the Solsonians who died and were deported to the Nazi camps must be highlighted. Recognition necessary for democratic honesty but exemplary for the new generations. In this sense, the Section of Contemporary History wants to continue the incipient study of these processes in Solsonès by carrying out a task of sobriety and dignity in a subject that is so alive and sensitive but that cannot fall into oblivion.
Nature Photographers Section
In the general assembly of this year 2010, a new section was welcomed, that of Solsonès Nature Photographers, who, as they define themselves, are photographers crazy about nature photography, which were organized in November from 2009 in Solsona. The aim of this association is to be a meeting and learning point between fans, to make known the natural environment of our region and to spread its extraordinary heritage. Nature photographers, however, are aware that their action, like all those carried out in a natural environment, always involves an intrusion into nature. And in order for the impact of their activity to be as mild as possible, the members of Fotografs de Natura del Solsonès undertake to follow a code of ethics that adds to the demands of professionalism of their role, the strict respect for the environment , the landscape and the living beings that are the object of their activity.
