TOP 5 Barcelona Museums

Barcelona offers a vast array of cultural offer for everyone but the most demanding will surely find interesting and fascinating insights in the following ones:

1. MNAC
2. Museum Picasso
3. Museum of history of Catalonia.
4. Museum of History of Barcelona
5. Maritime Museum

The National museum of Catalan Art (MNAC) must be the first choice for the quality of the exposition and the setting in which this outstanding collection is located.

Housed in the Palau Nacional (National Palace) in the hill of the Montjuïc since 1934, it offers a vast collection of local art spanning over more than 1000 years. By all means, the Romanesque section stands out due to the distinctive works here preserved: by redesigning the vast space of the palace into reproducing the original spaces, the MNAC provides indeed an unmatched experience for the visitors. The frescos and sculptures from medieval monasteries and churches of the rural Catalonia and Andorra are exhibit as they were meant to be .

Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll

The fifteen years old Pablo Picasso moved to Barcelona with his family and was admitted to the renowned School of arts "La Lotja". The Museu Picasso is a key reference for understanding the formative years of the artist. The genius of the young artist is revealed through the 4,251 works that make up the permanent collection.

Science And Charity - 1897

 

After a further two years studying classical art in Madrid, Picasso returned to Barcelona. He became unhappy with academia and wanted to explore a radical approach to creativity. Turning his back on his studies, Picasso looked for others who shared his taste for the abstract. His search led him to a decadent bar in the El Gotic area of the city, "Els quatre gats",
where a community of avant-garde artists and thinkers were redefining art.

Pablo Picasso - Menu for the Quatre Gats, Dish of the Day c. 1900

 

The History Museum of Catalonia was opened in 1996 by the Generalitat and it's situated in the antique Palau de Mar, the only preserved building from the old industrial port in Barcelona. Its contemporary architecture can be appreciated in all the building.

The museum offers a variety of temporary and permanent exhibitions in relation with Catalonia's history. The focus of the permanent exhibition is the time of hunters and gatherers, the rule of the Iberians, the age of the Romans and Middle Ages, the war of Spanish succession and the time of the suppression of the Catalan culture under the Franco dictatorship. 

King James I of Aragon with the bishop of Barcelona Berenguer de Palou and the magnates Bernat de Centelles and Gilabert de Cruïlles during the conquest of Majorca (1229)

 

 

  The Museu d’Història de Barcelona MUHBA (Barcelona City History Museum) consists of several heritage sites spread all around the city.

The site in the Plaça del Rei is made up of an ensemble of Medieval buildings and interesting ruins that allow visitors to get to know the city from its foundation by the Romans during the first century B.C. up until the Middle Ages. 

The ruins of the ancient Roman city and the romanesque medieval Royal Palace are remarkable. The latter highlights are
the large ceremonial hall called Saló del Tinell covered with large round arches (14th century), and the palatine chapel of Saint Agatha (14th century) with its original altarpiece, a 15th-century work by the Catalán painter Jaume Huguet.

 

 

The Epiphany altarpiece

The MMB – Museu Marítim is a museum in Barcelona dedicated to maritime history, sea exploration and shipbuilding.

The museum is located in the impressive Drassanes Reials medieval shipyard located on the city waterfront, at the end of the Rambla. and at the bottom of the Montjuic hill.

They were established, as a Royal ship repair open-air facility, at the end of the 13th century.
The current complex was developed from the 14th century, when Peter IV of Aragon built its first covered structure.

The permanent exhibition, recently renovated, is focused on the relationship between Barcelona and the sea, as well as on the city’s maritime history; an history narrated not only though beautiful boats, ships, and vessels, such as an impressive reconstruction of the Galera Reyal built in the Drassanes in 1568, but also with navigational instruments, arms and ordnance pieces, maps, historical documents, everyday objects, videos, and description panels, all located under the imposing vaulted architecture of the old shipyard. Barcelona was the only place in the Iberian peninsular where those galleys were manufactured.

 

At the garden entrance of the museum stands a replica of Ictíneo I, a pioneering submarine constructed in Barcelona in 1858–1859 by engineer Narcís Monturiol from Figueres.