Barcelona Museums guide

A Guide to the Museums of Barcelona, Spain

The city of Barcelona has some beautiful museums, exhibiting artefacts that track the history of the city and its country.

The History Museum of Barcelona is situated in a magnificent palace, and is also said to be the largest underground museum in Europe. The exhibits in this museum cover the periods of Roman and Visigothic Barcelona. The underground portion of the museum contains the ancient defensive walls, thermal buildings and ruins of the Visigothic city. The mediaeval complex above ground is a continuation of what is beneath.

One of the more fascinating museums in the city is the CosmoCaixa Science Museum. This is actually a science museum, and is considered to be one of the best in Europe. The museum opened to the public in 2004, after an overhaul that took around 6 years to complete. The science museum specializes in recreating the Amazonian forest and its displays reveal some of the secrets of the ecological world.

A rather interesting museum to visit is the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum is the most comprehensive of its kind in the whole country. The structure which houses it was formerly a 14th century shipyard building, called the Dressanes. The Dressanes were originally shipping sheds that were used till the 18th century. The museum has all the artefacts which display the rich Spanish heritage of the sea, right from the navigation to the maritime engineering. The building is made of majestic vaults supported by massive arches and columns.

The National Museum of Catalan Art (MNAC) houses a collection of Catalan art that documents their history throughout the course of the last millennium. MNAC has an impressive collection of Romanesque art, arguably one of the best in the world. The museum has pieces of sculpture and even frescoes from Catalan churches. These pieces were removed, restored and are now displayed in the safe custody of the museum. The museum has endeavoured to recreate the original settings, so as to convey the original intended impact of these pieces of art. Also available for view in the museum, are collections of Catalan art from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Additionally, it has the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, which was originally owned by the Monastery of Pedralbes.

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) is sight that shouldn’t be missed by any account. MACBA has pieces of art that all date to the latter part of the 20th century. The museum has pieces from quite a few famous contemporary masters including Klee, Basquiat and a few others. The main focus of the museum has centred on the Catalan movements; these include ones like the conceptual art of Grup del Treball and the surrealists Dau al Set. Why not visit Barcelona for the museums.