Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Barcelona History Museum (Museu d'Història de Barcelona: Plaça del Rei)
At this main branch of the city history museum (MUHBA for short), you can walk through
the history of Barcelona, with a focus on the city's Roman roots.
Cost and Hours:
€7; ticket includes English audioguide and other MUHBA branches,
including La Casa del Guarda in Park Güell; free all day first Sun of month and other
Sun from 15:00—but no audioguide during free times; open Tue-Sat 10:00-19:00, Sun
10:00-20:00, closed Mon; last entry 30 minutes before closing, Plaça del Rei, enter on
Vageur street, Metro: Jaume I, tel. 932-562-122.
VisitingtheMuseum:
ThoughthemuseumishousedinpartoftheformerRoyalPalace
complex, you'll see only a bit of that grand space. Instead, the focus is on the exhibits in the
cellar. While posted information is only in Catalan and Spanish, the included English audi-
oguide provides informative, if dry, descriptions of the exhibits.
Start by watching the nine-minute introductory video in the small theater (at the end of
thefirstfloor);itplaysalternatelyinCatalan,Spanish,andEnglish,butit'sworthviewingin
any language. Then take an elevator down 65 feet (and 2,000 years—see the date spin back
while you descend) to stroll the streets of Roman Barcino.
This was a working-class part of town, so you'll see models of domestic life, sewers,
areas used for laundry and dyeing, the remains of a factory that processed fish and created
garum (a fish-derived sauce used extensively in ancient Roman cooking), winemaking fa-
cilities, and bits of a seventh-century early-Christian church. An exhibit in the 11th-century
count's palace shows you Barcelona through its glory days in the Middle Ages.
Finally, head upstairs (or ride the elevator to floor 0) to see a model of the city from the
early16thcentury.Fromhere,youcanalsoenter
TinellHall
(partoftheRoyalPalace),with
its long, graceful, rounded vaults. Nearby, step into the 14th-century
Chapel of St. Agatha,
if it's hosting a temporary exhibit.
This museum, with the eclectic collection of local sculptor and packrat Frederic Marès
(1893-1991),sprawlsaroundapeaceful courtyard throughseveral oldBarri Gòtic buildings.
Thebiggestpartofthecollection,onthegroundandfirstfloors,consistsofsculpture—from
ancient works to beautiful, evocative Gothic pieces to items from the early 20th century.
Even more interesting is the extensive “Collector's Cabinet,” consisting of items Marès
found representative of everyday life in the 19th century. Lovingly displayed on the second
and third floors, the collection contains rooms upon rooms of scissors, keys, irons, fans,
nutcrackers,stamps,pipes,snuffboxes,operaglasses,pocketwatches,bicycles,toysoldiers,
dolls, and other bric-a-brac. And in Marès' study are several sculptures by the artist himself.
The tranquil courtyard café offers a pleasant break, even when the museum is closed (café
open in summer only, until 22:00).
