![]() Most of these cases have been lost by the community, but it continues to occupy the site, in part because the hospital that owns the facility does not have the financial capacity to renovate the structure. There have been both civil and criminal cases brought against the occupants of Can Masdeu since 2002. Members of the Barcelona band Gadjo playing at the Can Masdeu Calçotada - Spring 2007 The judge's ruling specified that human rights and safety are more important than property rights. After three days, the Barcelona judge overseeing the case ordered the police to withdraw. A Dutch solidarity organization organized an occupation of the Spanish Embassy in the Netherlands. Hundreds of spectators came to see the occupation, many of them chanted slogans, and stopped traffic on the local highway. They waited for three days with growing local support and media attention. The police changed their initial strategy of forced removal with one of waiting for the squatters to get thirsty and hungry and come down. Many were suspended outside the building on frames and even a bathtub was used. Some dangling occupiers locked themselves to the building, others balanced on a long seesaw, from which no single occupant could be removed without dropping the other. This created a situation in which the police risked serious injury to themselves or to squatters in attempting to remove them. The squatters used a number of techniques to retain control of the space including, significantly, locking themselves to various precarious perches outside the building. Using passive resistance over three days the squatters were able to hold off the police's efforts at forced removal. Can Masdeu became famous in April 2002, when over 100 national police came to evict 11 squatters. The aim was to hold a conference to raise awareness around climate change. Two squatters balance on a "death plank" to resist the police evictionĪn international group of activists spent over a year searching in Barcelona for the best location to occupy and in December 2001 they moved onto the abandoned hospital. Fear of leprosy may have been a factor in this large facility being left vacant for over half a century. ![]() It was ultimately shuttered and abandoned in 1948. After functioning as a nunnery for some years, the facility was converted into a leper hospital. In the early 20th century the living units, common space, and kitchen were added. Of the existing structure, first the temple ( masia) was completed in the 17th century. The building was built on an ancient Roman site and was surrounded by vineyards before the city expanded into Nou Barris. There is a sign for it before the 0.5 km (0.31 mi) walk up a dirt road to the site. It includes 24 different rooms of various sizes including a large hall.Ĭan Masdeu is located up the hill from the Canyelles 元 Metro station in Barcelona. The building spans four floors and is draped over the side of a hill. The grounds governed by the squat include almost a hectare of land in use as gardens, an abandoned nunnery, and hospital facility, and about 15 hectares (37 acres) of mostly hilly forests. the nunnery or leper hospital which once inhabited the masia and the valley.the social center or the ecological project associated with it.the valley, or the community gardens which inhabit it.the masia - a traditional Iberian patriarchal mansion or plantation house.Thus, Can Masdeu can refer to any of the following: ![]() ![]() Can means "property of" and "Masdeu" comes from the Masdeu family who once inhabited the farmhouse at the center of the valley.
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