We suggest you take a museum tour through a selection of some of our favorite museums in Barcelona and its surroundings. Not all of them are there, and some of the most important ones may be missing, but they are a good representation of the variety and knowledge that we can find in the great Barcelona. You can also complement this reading with the virtual tours post that includes other museums in Barcelona.
This is our selection of Museums of Barcelona
In our list, you will find everything from big museums to small gems to discover. Surely, this list will be able to grow with your suggestions; we will complement it little by little. For now, we will show you a wide variety of museum spaces, places for you to enjoy, for example: the different artistic disciplines of modernism, meet international artists such as Gaudí, Joan Miró and Frederic Marès, discover current figurative artists, know the ancient Roman times, or walks through different historical periods through the Monastery of Sant Cugat and you can even be surprised with a very peculiar museum about the life of one of the world-renowned myths, as is the case of Marilyn Monroe. Discover them step by step.
Museum of Modernism of Barcelona
Barcelona is known worldwide for modernism, but not everyone knows this museum. This private institution offers you a walk through the art of the modernist era in Catalonia, in its different manifestations and disciplines. A whole collection of pieces that show you the furniture, paintings, sculptures and decorative arts of the time.
Web: Museu del Modernisme
Address: carrer Balmes, 48, 08007 Barcelona
Frederic Marès Museum
The Frederic Marès Museum is located in the heart of the Gothic Quarter, in the old Royal Palace of the Counts of Barcelona. This museum shows you not only the work of Frederic Marès, but also his collection of Hispanic sculpture, which dates from ancient times to the 19th century.
Web: Museu Frederic Marès
Address: plaça de Sant Iu, 5, 08002 Barcelona
Monastery of Sant Cugat – Monastery Museum
This list could not miss the most powerful monastery in the County, which houses an exceptional Romanesque cloister, with 114 unique capitals. We recommend that you visit either with the audio guide or on the weekend with one of the guided tours. Come to the museum as it will allow you to know some curiosities of the life of the monks and better understand the architecture of the Monastery.
Address: plaça de Octavià, 1, 08132 Sant Cugat del Vallès · Barcelona
Cosmocaixa
The Cosmocaixa space offers more than 30,000 square meters of scientific information. An amazing and interactive museum that will stimulate your participation and bring science closer to you so that you can easily understand it. It allows you to enjoy the planetarium, the flooded forest or the universe room, you can also do a lot of activities and conferences that always bring you closer to science.
Web: Cosmocaixa
Address: carrer Isaac Newton, 26, 08022 Barcelona
Casa Vicens
Casa Vicens was the summer home of the Vicens family. It is considered Gaudí’s first masterpiece. The house was built between 1883 and 1885 and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. You can visit the permanent exhibition dedicated to explaining the social, cultural and artistic context. They also hold different temporary exhibitions.
Web: Casa Vicens
Address: carrer de les Carolines, 20-26, 08012 Barcelona
Joan Miró Foundation
The Joan Miró Foundation is a space dedicated to the dissemination of the artist’s work. Joan Miró created a unique and very personal language, becoming one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. In the museum you can also find other current works.
Web: Fundació Joan Miró
Address: parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona
National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC)
This is a must visit if you are in Barcelona, the museum houses one of the most exceptional exhibitions of Romanesque art in the world. If you want to make the most of the space, it’s important to take a tour of the museum’s table. The building built for the 1929 Universal Exposition is already worth a visit, as well as the magnificent views of the city of Barcelona.
Web: MNAC
Address: Palau Nacional, parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona.
Marilyn Monroe Museum, House Museum – Cal Gerrer
The Casa Museu-Cal Gerrer is a very unique museum. It is located in a beautiful building located in a corner of Plaça Octavià, with beautiful views of the Monastery of Sant Cugat. It is a private museum where you can enjoy an exhibition on Marilyn Monroe, showing objects, publications and films by the artist. All this thanks to the great collector Frederic Cabanas, artist, who also pays homage in the different rooms of the museum to the artists of the family saga. All with a beautiful reconstruction of the building and an exhibition interpretation.
Address: carrer Santiago Rusiñol, 60, (plaça de Octavià) · 08172 Sant Cugat del Vallès · Barcelona.
Badalona Museum – BAETULO
Walking through an authentic Roman city is what the Badalona Museum offers us. We can visit the remains of the Baths and the Decumanus maximus, one of the most important Roman archaeological sites in Catalonia. In his permanent exhibition he shows mainly pieces of the Roman Baetulo.
Web: Museu de Badalona
Address: plaça Assemblea de Catalunya, 1, 08911 Badalona, Barcelona.
European Museum of Modern Art
Located in the Palau Gomis, in one of the narrow streets of Barcelona’s El Born neighborhood, it features the best contemporary figurative art. This kind of art is not usually exhibited in contemporary art museums, as it is more identified with abstraction and experimentation. Is an excellent cultural proposition that we recommend.
Web: Museu Europeu d’Art Modern
Address: carrer de la Barra de Ferro, 5, 08003 Barcelona
Maritime Museum of Barcelona
The Maritime Museum of Barcelona is a reference of the Catalan and Mediterranean maritime culture. During your visit you will not only enjoy a great space for interpretation and promotion of the maritime world, but you will also be able to see the magnificent building that houses the museum, the Royal Shipyards.
Web: Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Address: avinguda de les Drassanes, s/n, 08001 Barcelona
Museum of the History of Catalonia
The Museum of the History of Catalonia is a national museum that covers Catalan history from prehistoric times to the 21st century. The space invites visitors to discover the history of Catalonia in a didactical and participatory way through original pieces and reconstitutions.
Another reason to visit this space is its location in the Palau de Mar, from its terrace you can enjoy a fantastic view of the Port Vell harbour and have another perspective of the city.
Web: Museu d’Història de Catalunya
Address: plaça de Pau Vila, 3, 08039 Barcelona
Centre Grau-Garriga d’Art Tèxtil Contemporani
The Centre Grau-Garriga is the first contemporary textile art center in the country. The old Cal Quitèria farmhouse in Sant Cugat, hosts this new cultural facility that aims to promote this artistic sector so relevant to the city, thanks to the outstanding personality of Josep Grau-Garriga.
Visitors can enjoy a wide variety of works of textile art and tapestries created by Grau-Garriga himself. In addition, there are also many activities related to this art, such as exhibitions, workshops and conferences.
Web: Centre Grau-Garriga d’Art Tèxtil Contemporani
Address: plaça de Can Quitèria, 1, 08172 Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
Archaeology Museum of Catalonia
The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) preserves and exhibits the most important archaeological collection in Catalonia. For this reason, its visit is essential to discover the archaeology, history and ancient art of the present Catalan territory.
The institution integrates five major museum facilities: the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia in Barcelona, headquarters of the institution; the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia in Girona; the Greco-Roman city of Empúries, in L’Escala; the Iberian citadel of Ullastret, in Ullastret; and the Castle and archaeological site of Olèrdola, in Olèrdola.
Moreover, in the same neighborhood where the museum is located in Barcelona, you will find the Greek Theatre and the Lliure Theatre, you can’t miss it!
Web: Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya
Address: passeig de Santa Madrona, 39, 08038 Barcelona
Comic and Illustration Museum
Another unique museum to visit is the Museu del Cómic i la Il·lustració, the first of its kind in the country. Located in a historic building of the mid-19th century, you will discover a journey through the history of the comic book and its protagonists, their different stages and evolution. All this through hundreds of titles appeared during the period 1865/2000, with special attention to original works.
135 years of graphic narrative that have made the comic a major art!
Web: Museu del Cómic i la Il·lustració
Address: plaça de Pep Ventura, 1, 08172 Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
Gavà Mines Archaeological Park
In the city of Gavà is one of the most special prehistoric museums of the Neolithic period in Catalonia, the mines of Can Tintorer, a unique site that shows how 6000 years ago the inhabitants of the area extracted minerals. These are the oldest gallery mines in Europe and the only ones dedicated to the extraction of Variscite, a green mineral used to make jewelry that was exchanged in complex commercial networks that reached all over the western Mediterranean. Unique objects were also recovered, like the Venus de Gavà and human remains from the graves that reused the caves.
Web: Parc Arqueològic Mines de Gavà
Address: carrer de Jaume I, 7, 08850 Gavà, Barcelona
Maricel Museum in Sitges
The Museu Maricel of Sitges is located in a spectacular palace by the sea built in the early twentieth century, an architectural beauty. The museum space shows a complete artistic itinerary from the tenth century to the realism and figuration of the first half of the twentieth century, all thanks to the art collections of Dr. Jesus Perez-Rosales and the people of Sitges, with works of great quality. Do not miss it!
Web: Museu Maricel
Address: carrer de Fonollar, 7, 08870 Sitges, Barcelona
We hope you liked this selection and do not hesitate to visit some of these museums. They are worth it!
