El Museu del Cine of Girona houses a collection of nearly tousands of precinematographic objects and historical apparatuses assembled over a 25-year period by engineer, photographer, and publicist Tomàs Mallol i Deulofeu. Inaugurated on April 8, 1998, and supported by the Girona City Council following its acquisition of the collection in 1994, the institution serves as a pioneering reference space in Spain for exploring how centuries of optical and scientific experimentation culminated in the birth of the cinema.
The Scientific Illusion of Movement
The cinema did not emerge spontaneously on December 28, 1895, when Auguste and Louis Lumière publicly presented their cinematograph. For centuries prior, scientists, inventors, and artisans developed countless mechanical devices designed to exploit the mechanics of human vision. According to the Museu del Cine, understanding moving images requires examining psychological and physiological phenomena such as retinal persistence and the Phi phenomenon. These processes demonstrate how the human eye and brain retain an image for a fraction of a second, blending rapid sequences of independent, fixed images into a seamless visual continuity.
The museum exhibits this technical evolution through a curated circuit of optical devices. Among the earliest technologies represented are Chinese shadows and optical boxes, which utilized silhouettes and controlled lighting to construct primitive visual narratives. These developments paved the way for the camera obscura, widely recognized as a direct ancestor to both modern photography and motion pictures. Visitors can also examine magical lanterns—the first major projected visual spectacles in history—which employed light sources, lenses, and hand-painted glass plates to project striking images onto walls.
By the 19th century, optical toys proliferated across Europe. Devices like the zoetrope and the thaumatrope relied on rotating drums, slotted cylinders, and spinning discs featuring sequential drawings that simulated motion when manipulated. These incremental inventions eventually led to sophisticated apparatuses such as the praxinoscopios and, ultimately, the Lumière brothers’ cinematograph. Unlike many archival institutions that keep delicate artifacts behind glass, the Girona museum allows visitors to physically manipulate reproductions and authentic mechanisms, testing how historical optical illusions trick human perception.
Origins of the Tomàs Mallol Collection
The existence of the Girona museum is directly attributable to Tomàs Mallol i Deulofeu. Born in 1923, Mallol constructed his first homemade projector at just eight years old before pursuing formal training as an industrial expert. Over the course of his professional life, he worked in photography, advertising, and amateur filmmaking. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Mallol dedicated more than 25 years to scouring antique markets and private collections for scientific instruments and historical hardware that charted the progression of visual media.
Recognizing the historical importance of his holdings, the Girona City Council purchased the Tomàs Mallol Collection in 1994 to guarantee its preservation and public exhibition. Today, the permanent inventory encompasses approximately 8,000 precinematographic objects, alongside numerous fixed images including engravings, photographs, and historical posters. The catalog also features 800 historical films and specialized artifacts, such as the Cine NIC children’s cinema collection and narrow-gauge amateur equipment spanning 8mm, 9.5mm, and 16mm formats.
