Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You'll need at least a day to see Montjuïc, the steep hill and park rising over the city
to the southwest. It takes its name from the Jewish community that once settled on
its slopes, and there's been a castle on the heights since the mid-seventeenth century.
But it's as a cultural leisure park that contemporary Montjuïc is positioned, anchored
around the heavyweight art collections in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
(MNAC).ThisunsurpassednationalcollectionofCatalanartissupplementedbyworks
in two other superb galleries, namely international contemporary art in the Caixa For-
um and that of the famous Catalan artist Joan Miró in the Fundació Joan Miró. In ad-
dition, there are separate archeological, ethnological, military and theatrical museums,
quite apart from the buildings and stadiums associated with the 1992 Olympics, which
was centred on the heights of Montjuïc.
As late as the 1890s, the hill was nothing more than a collection of private farms and wood-
land on the edge of the old town, though some landscaping had already taken place by the
time Montjuïc was chosen as the site of the International Exhibition of 1929. The slopes
were then laid with gardens, terraces and fountains, while monumental Neoclassical build-
ingswereaddedtothenorthside,manyofthemlateradaptedasmuseums.Thefamous Poble
Espanyol (Spanish Village) - a hybrid park of collected Spanish buildings - is the most ex-
traordinary relic of the Exhibition, while the various lush gardens still provide enjoyment
and respite from the crowds. Above all, perhaps, there are the city and ocean views to savour
from this most favoured of Barcelona's hills: from the steps in front of the Museu Nacional,
from the castle ramparts, from the Olympic terraces or from the cable-cars that zigzag up the
steepest slopes of Montjuïc.
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