Museums in Barcelona, Spain. Directory of Barcelona museums.

Museums in Barcelona

Barcelona leaves most Spanish cities standing in terms of art and culture. It is home to some of the world’s most famous museums including the world-renowned Gaudi Museum, which contains a vast collection of this genius architect's drawings, portraiture and busts as well as items of furniture. The museum is situated in the Parc Guell, which contains more examples of Gaudi’s work. Art lovers will appreciate the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, which exhibits works of art from the world of the Aztec, Chavin, Mochica, Olmec, Maya, and Inca. This museum is the only one in Europe devoted to this period and race. The textile and Costume Museum houses historic fashion collections dating from the Baroque era to the 20th Century. Manuel Rocamora and Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga donated many of the exhibits. Other notable houses of culture include the Museu del Comic, the Egyptian Museum and the Museu Frederic Marés.

Amusement Park Tibidabo
Address: Plaça Tibidabo 3 Phone: +34 93 211 79 42 e-mail: tibidabo@tibidabo.es	Price: 9 - 22 EUR
Website: http://www.tibidabo.es
Opening Hours: Saturday-Sunday 12:00-19:00
On top of the mountain of Tibidabo, the Amusement Park Tibidabo features rides from the early 20th Century, as well as cutting-edge novelties, such as the 'Dragon Khan'. During the summer, the park assumes a carnival-like atmosphere. The mountain peak has been a retreat for Barcelonese since 1868, when the road connecting it to the city was built. The Sociedad Anónima de Tibidabo contributed to the instalment of the blue tram and funicular in the park. Among the site's attractions are the L'Avio, replicas of the first plane which served the Barcelona-Madrid route, which suspends and flies from a central axis. The site also features a museum for period mechanical gadgets. The rides and attractions of the part are enhanced by the elevated position of the park. The church close to the amusement park, Temple de Sagrat Cor, dates from 1902.

Antoni Tàpies Fundation
Address: C/Aragó 255 Phone: +34 934870315	Price: 4 - 6 EUR
Website: http://www.fundaciotapies.org/

The Fundació Antoni Tàpies, or Antoni Tàpies Foundation, Barcelona’s third museum after Miró and Picasso, is dedicated to the work of a single prolific artist, the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies. Tàpies set up a foundation bearing his name in 1984, and the city donated the old Montaner i Simon publishing house to contain the foundation’s holdings. As one of the city's landmarks, this brick and iron structure was erected in 1881 – 1884 by Catalan Modernist architect Lluis Doménech i Montaner, also the creator of the Casa Lleó Morera. The core of the foundation’s collection is the works by Tàpies, covering stages of his career and tracing his transition to Abstract Expressionism. The site provides a showcase of the entire spectrum of media in which the artist worked, including painting, assemblage, sculpture, drawing and ceramics. The building itself is topped by a controversial gigantic sculpture, 'Cloud and Chair', produced from 2,700 metres of metal wiring and tubes.
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Barbier-Mueller Museum for Precolumbian Art
Address: Carrer de Montcada 12-14 Phone: +34 93 310 45 16 e-mail: museubarbier@bcn.cat	Price: 2 - 3 EUR
Website: http://www.barbier-mueller.ch
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-18:00
Inaugurated in 1997, the Barbier-Mueller Museum for Precolumbian Art holds one of the world's most significant collections of pre-Columbian art. The restored Palacio Nadal, erected during the Gothic period, includes some 6,000 pieces of tribal and ancient art. Josef Mueller (1887-1977) took possession of the first pieces in 1908. The pre-Columbian cultures are represented by religious, funerary and ornamental objects of immense stylistic variety. Stone sculpture and ceramic objects feature some testimonials of the Olmecs culture, who settled on the Gulf of Mexico towards the early 1st millennium BC. Their art is showcased by notable monumental sculpture in stone and some magnificent figures in jade. The exhibits also focus on the Mayan culture dating from 1000 BC. Mayan art is represented by painting, ceramics and sculpture. The pottery makers of the Lower Amazon, particularly the ones from the island of Marajó, as well as the millennium-old gold adornments from northern Peru, are also showcased.

Barcelona Aquarium
Address: Moll d'Espanya-Port Vell Phone: +34 93 221 74 74	Price: 10 - 14 EUR
Website: http://www.aquariumbcn.com
Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 09:30-21:00
An impressive testimonial to sea life, the Barcelona Aquarium was opened in 1996 in Barcelona's Port Vell. Perfectly locatated, only a 10-minute walk from the Rambles, it attracts hundrets of tourists every day. Europe's largest aquarium, it contains 21 fish tanks positioned along the sides of a wide corridor. Each tank showcases marine habitat, spanning from exotic fish and corals of many colours to worms and sharks. The museum's highlight is a huge 'oceanarium', which provides a glimpse on the Mediterranean ecosystem, which is viewed from the inside of a glass tunnel running along its entire length, thus producing the effect of fish, eels and sharks appearing to swim around you. The Explora section, as well as the collection of hands-on exhibits on Catalonia's Costa Brava and Ebro Delta, are geared towards children.

Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture
Address: Montalegre 5 Phone: +34 93 4120810 e-mail: global@cccb.org
Website: http://www.cccb.org

The Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB) conceives exhibitions as more than mere compilations of works. The site proposes routes which constitute paths forking into bold images and concepts, and a series of exercises promoting experimentation. With its exhibits, the CCCB attempts to find new projection spaces, which is the main reason why some of the exhibitions are constantly on tour. The site's aim is to participate in cultural debate, making statements against conformism, clichés and market trends. In 2003, the site opened a new exhibition space for small-format shows, l'Aparador. The showcase also provides a venue for additional cultural activities organised by the CCCB. The film and video section offers independent productions, allowing new genres to enrich CCCB's audiovisual programme. Featuring in-house productions or collaborations with independent artists, the CCCB believes in films beyond commercial circuits and sees experimentation with alternative forms as a vehicle for commitment to reality.

Barcelona Maritime Museum
Address: Av Drassanes Phone: +34 933429920 e-mail: m.maritim@diba.cat
Website: http://www.museumaritimbarcelona.com

Starting from 1929, the Museu Marítim de Barcelona, or Barcelona Maritime Museum, has gathered a major collection illustrating the Catalan seafaring culture. The site was set up in 1929 thanks to the Junta de Patronat de l’Institut Nàutic de la Mediterrània, or Board of Management of the Mediterranean Nautical Institute. As of 1931, the institution pressed for the establishment of a naval museum with a specialised library. Meanwhile, the city of Barcelona recovered its royal shipyards, where soldiers were obliged to permanently vacate in 1935. The Museu Marítim de Catalunya was created in 1936 and occupied part of the Medieval building. The Barcelona Maritime Museum, due to World War II, was not inaugurated until after 1941. The musuem increased its exhibition space from 4,000 square metres in 1941 to 10,000 square metres in 1985.

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
Address: Place dels Angels 1 Phone: +34 97 2677500 e-mail: amics@macba.es
Website: http://www.macba.es

The history of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) can be traced back to 1959. Art critic Alexandre Cirici Pellicer effected his idea of creating a museum of Contemporary Art, and together with Cesáreo Rodríguez Aguilera headed a group which worked on forming a collection which later served as the foundation of the future museum. As various artists united to decide upon the location for the new museum, the group launched 23 exhibitions, featuring contemporary artists such as Moisès Villèlia, Antoni Bonet, Àngel Ferrant, Jean Fautrier, Albert Ràfols Casamada, Romà Vallès, Jordi Curós, Josep Maria de Sucre and August Puig. The MACBA Collection, which started around 1950, includes works by Catalan, Spanish and international artists. Offering a thorough overview of the fundamental aspects of Contemporary Art, the museum works to promote education in critical memory.

Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Address: Avda Marquès de Comillas Phone: +34 93 423 40 16


Contrasting the Modernista style of the Casaramona and the traditionalism of the Poble Espanyol, the Pavelló Mies van der Rohe was designed by German architect Mies van der Rohe. The German Pavilion for the 1929 World's Fair, as it was originally built for, the structure was the last of the Rohe's works before he fled to the United States. Considered a great achievement of both his and the International Style, the horizontal building contains the architect's trademarks: precision, space fluidity, abundance of pure materials, and a diversity of marble and glass. The structure is erected around a shallow pool with a statue by Georg Kolbe, a German sculptor. There is the original Barcelona Chair inside the pavillion. Following the World's Fair, the structure was transferred to an outer suburb but was subsequently reconstructed in 1985 by a group of local well-known architects.

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