A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN BARCELONA: MNAC

Barcelona is a city that as a whole seems incredibly beautiful to me. Many times, I find myself riding my bike to go somewhere and thinking: “God, how beautiful this city is.” When people come to Barcelona, there’s a list of things that every tourist has to see, such as the Sagrada Familia (obviously), Park Güell with its famous lizard or other Gaudí buildings such as Casa Batlló or Palau Güell. However, I remember my great admiration for what I consider my favorite building in Barcelona when I saw Plaza España for the first time. At first, the Arenas shopping center caught my attention, which is an old bullring that they converted, and the truth is that it is quite striking. However, when you look to the other side there are incredible views and in the background there is the National Palace, which today is known for housing the National Art Museum of Catalonia, or MNAC (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya).

MNAC - Tom D'Arby

The National Palace was built for the 1929 World Expo in Barcelona, and since 1934 it has been home to one of my favorite museums in Barcelona, the MNAC. The building is located in Montjuic, so it is surrounded by nature, something that seemed amazing to me, considering how close it is to the center. The first time I came to Barcelona I didn’t go to see it and I only admired it from afar, because we didn’t have the time to see everything. The second time I went there was to see the incredible views from the stands right in front of the museum, you can see Plaza España from the other side and a large part of Barcelona. Finally, I found out when the free day was to visit it, (see below!) and since then, I have gone several times to see it.

Ábside de Àneu - MNAC

The building itself is worth it, so for that reason alone I recommend that you go, in addition, it is not a tourist attraction as busy as La Sagrada Familia or Park Güell, which means you won’t have to wait in long lines in general. In addition to the first Sunday of each month, you’ll find that Saturdays from 3:00 p.m. the entry is free and can be reserved through their website, so no queues at all. The museum closes at 6:00 p.m., so if you go at 3:00 p.m. you still have three hours to visit it, or if you live here you can go for a little while every Saturday and see it little by little.

In 1934 it opened the doors with the medieval collection, in 1995 the Romanesque art rooms were added, and in 2004 a modern art section was included. The MNAC claims to have the best collection of Romanesque mural paintings in the world and works by the most representative artists of Catalan modernism, such as Gaudí or Casas. There are also works of Gothic art and European Renaissance and Baroque painters such as Tiziano or Velázquez. In short, it is a very complete museum that will take you through all eras and styles.

In addition to the permanent exhibition rooms, right now you can see the following temporary exhibitions that I highly recommend:

• Pere Formiguera Donation. The Creative Drive: It will be available until June 30 and it’s a walk throughout the photographer’s career. The exhibition includes slides and parts of his processes.

Photography by Pere Formiguera you can see in the exhibition

• Longaron and Friday Foster, The Unexpected Heroine: Available until June 24. It represents the work of historical recovery and heritage reclamation of comics as an artistic genre, through the figures of Jordi Longaron and her weekly series 'Friday Foster'. It was presented in 1970 and Friday Foster was the first African-American woman to star in a syndicated strip. Furthermore, she didn’t represent the stereotypical woman of the time, but was closer to the current image of an empowered woman.

• The Lost Mirror. Jews and ‘Conversos’ in the Middle Ages: Available until May 26. Through a wide selection of works, this exhibition recovers a medieval mirror: the portrait of Jews and ‘Conversos’ conceived by Christians in Spain between 1285 and 1492.