“Francesca Bonnemaison launched the first library for women only in Europe.
Opened in 1909 in the Barcelona city parish of Santa Anna, it aimed to promote reading among young working women.
It was so successful that they soon saw the need to go further and create an institution that would make education and culture accessible to all women. From this, another institution was born in May 1910: the Institute of Culture and Popular Library for Women. It offered its students the necessary training to help find better-paid jobs.
The initial headquarters, on Elisabets Street in the Raval, soon became too small and they had to look for another location. In 1917, the acquisition of an old stately home on Sant Pere Més Baix Street (in the Sant Pere neighborhood) was realised, with the intention of expanding it with a new building designed to meet the specific needs of the institution. That building currently houses the Francesca Bonnemaison Library, in her honor.
As Francesca, or Doña Paquita as everyone knew her, used to say, ‘Every woman is worth more when she learns to read’ ”
Info and above text translated from Explica'm Barcelona (guided tours in the Catalan capital. *They have not paid me for this article.)
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Well done, Doña Paquita!