Museu de les Trementinaires Josa i Tuixent

The Museum of the Trementinaires of Tuixent opened its doors in 1998, to preserve the memory of an occupation exercised by the women of the valley of the Vansa and Tuixent. The office of trementinaire became a way to complement the domestic economy of many families.

The office of trementinaire is located at the moment when the demographic pressure of the mid-nineteenth century caused the seasonal exodus of many men and women from these valleys to richer areas. And it was in this framework of social dismemberment that many women in the valley dedicated themselves to extracting from this harsh and ungrateful land a means to survive the transformations of a Catalonia where, walking and laden with herbs and oils, they would "cease and cure" all evils. "

The knowledge of the plants, their medicinal virtues and the processes of elaboration of ancestral remedies acquired by oral transmission, were, among others, the factors that motivated them to exercise this new profession.

His name is due to turpentine, the remedy that gave them the most popularity.

This trade absorbed most of the female population of the valley for more than a hundred years. The last trip was made by Sofía de Osario, in 1982.

They went once or twice a year and could be away from only a few days to four months. Most of the trementinaires always followed the same route, since most of the country houses where they went were the clients from year to year. They did not usually enter the big cities or frequent the markets to sell their remedies, since they used a more personal and direct relationship with people.