Cal Metre

The colony of Cal Metre is located close to the town of Gironella.

The builder was Joan Alsina Rosal, called as "the Metre", because he came from a family with a long tradition in the field of spinning. Mr. Alsina, who owned a factory located in Sant Andreu de Palomar, which overwhelms him in 1877, acquired Gironella flour mill that went to auction in 1860 and then put it again in operation. Soon became a modern flour mill and, in turn, began to build a factory which used the water of the canal as a source of energy.

As the majority of the colonies and Catalan textile factories of the last decades of the nineteenth century, the working conditions in Cal Metre were very hard. The workers had to work twelve hours a day or more, six days a week and conditions were very unpleasant. To improve or alleviate the situation of workers Cal Metre workers go on strike on several occasions. In November 1881, for example, workers are on strike to protest harsh working conditions and pressures that had suffered the owner in order to obtain substantial improvements. Another strike, more importantly, what took place was in 1890. As a result of this strike -in which will join the majority of workers in the colonies of the Llobregat many workers were dismissed.

The growth of the town of Gironella at the end of the nineteenth century brought the whole industrial Cal Metre remained engulfed in the urban area of the town. Next to the factory were built some flats for workers and the owners also made to build a tower, but Cal Metre not developed a range of services and facilities themselves as did other colonies of the Berguedà more isolated or distant from a town.

Areas of interest

The factory and the owner house, one of the most emblematic buildings in the city of Gironella.