Barcelona’s women’s cultural centre La Bonne has formally asked the Diputació de Barcelona to return its historic building on Sant Pere Més Baix street. The Associació Promotora del Centre de Cultura de Dones Francesca Bonnemaison says the 1941 transfer was an expropriation under Francoist pressure, and it is relying on the Democratic Memory Law in its claim to Diputació president Lluïsa Moret.
The centre says it has spent more than a decade fighting to stay in the Francesca Bonnemaison building. Marta Vergonyós, La Bonne’s director, says the claim is based on “moral legitimacy that has a legal basis”. She says the centre continues Francesca Bonnemaison’s original project and remains an interclass space for groups including Sindillar and the Dones Visuals collective.
La Bonne says the building still plays a major role in the city. Last year, 13,316 women used its services, including training, artistic residencies, and legal or psychological support. Vergonyós says, “We are more alive than ever.” The Diputació, however, has said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the formal move, which has been registered as a letter and could lead to legal action.
The association argues that the 1941 deed of transfer was a “true expropriation”. Jurist Eugènia Canal backs that view, saying the operation was “null” because it took place after the war, when Francesca Bonnemaison was in exile in Switzerland. The building was later handed to the Sección Femenina de la Falange in 1942. Documents at the Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya also show the original institute had its own legal personality and was run by women from the start.
Francesca Bonnemaison, who lived from 1872 to 1949, founded Europe’s first women’s library, the Biblioteca Popular per a la Dona, in 1909. The institute later moved from Santa Anna to Elisabets street, then to Sant Pere Més Baix in 1920, before occupying the former Casa Cordellas palace from 1922. Bonnemaison also mortgaged two of her own houses on Villarroel street to help fund the centre.
Relations between La Bonne and the Diputació are now worsening. Vergonyós says the centre is in “the worst” position, with no agreement in place and an “illegal situation”. She also accuses the Diputació of cutting funding, shortening agreements, demanding a Public Utility Declaration, and charging for use of the spaces. La Bonne says the building is being rented out to others, including political parties and Desokupa, and fears the site could be turned into offices.
For readers following Barcelona’s civic and cultural disputes, this case sits at the point where heritage, women’s rights, and democratic memory meet. You can also follow related coverage on Community and Sport for other local stories across the city.
