View of the fourth floor of the new building, with a collection of wild mushrooms in the foreground.
At this point, we begin to assess the recent past of the countryside and especially to analyse its present. Even more importantly, we will calibrate its future potential.
A scale model of the Conca de Barberà region shows L’Espluga de Francolí in its geographic environs. The Conca de Barberà, a county in the part of Catalonia known as Catalunya Nova (New Catalonia), is a traditionally agricultural region that has hardly been touched by industrialisation. Even today its wealth of landscapes stand out.
The flora and fauna in the county reflect the natural environment around them, as well as the way they have been treated by its inhabitants over the years.
Mediterranean vegetation is the most common kind found in the region.
Another feature worth noting in the county is its wild mushrooms. The museum displays a collection with more than 70 different varieties.
Animals benefit the most from this diverse plant world, this rich and balanced ecosystem. The wild boar (king of the forests of Poblet) and the francolin (a bird from the partridge and pheasant family which used to be quite plentiful and is now extinct in this region, like the wolf) are just some of the animals in the museum’s collection.
