Museums in Barcelona

Our selection of the 15 best museums to explore in Barcelona

Picasso, Miró, Gaudí, Tàpies: Barcelona has seen some of the greatest names of modern art pass through, and its museums remind you of it at every turn. Here are the ones that deserve a place in your stay.

Picasso Museum

Housed in five medieval palaces on Carrer de Montcada, the Picasso Museum in Barcelona opened in 1963, during the artist's lifetime. It brings together more than 4,000 works, mostly from his early years.

You follow the formation of the painter, who arrived in Barcelona as a teenager, up to his series of variations on Velázquez's Las Meninas, made in 1957 and donated to the museum.

• Address: Carrer de Montcada 15-23, 08003 Barcelona
• Metro: Jaume I (line 4)

National Art Museum of Catalonia

Perched on Montjuïc hill, the National Palace built for the 1929 Exhibition houses the MNAC. Its collection of Romanesque frescoes, removed from the churches of the Catalan Pyrenees, has few equivalents.

The tour continues with Gothic art, the Renaissance and Catalan modernisme. From the palace steps, the view over Barcelona is almost worth the trip on its own.

• Address: Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona
• Metro: Espanya (lines 1 and 3)

Joan Miró Foundation

Wanted by Joan Miró himself and opened in 1975, the foundation occupies a white building designed by his architect friend Josep Lluís Sert, flooded with natural light.

Paintings, sculptures, tapestries and drawings retrace the whole career of the Barcelona-born artist. The terraces, decorated with sculptures, overlook the city and the port.

• Address: Parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona
• Metro: Paral·lel (lines 2 and 3), then the Montjuïc funicular

Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA)

In the heart of the Raval, the MACBA has occupied a dazzling white building designed by the American Richard Meier since 1995. Its collection covers contemporary art from the second half of the 20th century to today.

In front of the entrance, the esplanade has become a very busy skate spot. Watching the skaters is almost part of the visit.

• Address: Plaça dels Àngels 1, 08001 Barcelona
• Metro: Universitat (lines 1 and 2)

Palau Güell

Built by Gaudí between 1886 and 1890 for his patron Eusebi Güell, this urban palace is one of his first major works. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

From the central hall topped with a dome to the stables in the basement, every space surprises. On the roof, the mosaic-covered chimneys already announce the style of the Casa Batlló.

• Address: Carrer Nou de la Rambla 3-5, 08001 Barcelona
• Metro: Liceu (line 3)

Casa Vicens

The first house designed by Gaudí, at just 31, the Casa Vicens stands out in the Gràcia district with its green and white ceramic façade decorated with marigold motifs.

Open to the public since 2017, it reveals Oriental-inspired interiors, carved ceilings and a smoking room that looks like a Moorish palace. Far less crowded than the architect's other works.

• Address: Carrer de les Carolines 20-26, 08012 Barcelona
• Metro: Fontana (line 3)

Casa Amatller

Next door to the Casa Batlló on the Passeig de Gràcia, this house remodelled by Josep Puig i Cadafalch for the chocolate maker Antoni Amatller boasts a gabled façade inspired by Flemish houses.

The family apartment has kept its original modernista furniture and decoration. The visit ends in the former kitchen, now a lounge where you taste a house chocolate.

• Address: Passeig de Gràcia 41, 08007 Barcelona
• Metro: Passeig de Gràcia (lines 2, 3 and 4)

Egyptian Museum

Founded by the collector Jordi Clos, this private museum holds one of the richest collections of Egyptian antiquities in Spain: sarcophagi, mummies, jewellery and everyday objects.

The tour is organised by theme, from the pharaoh to domestic life via funerary rites. A good option for families, a stone's throw from the Passeig de Gràcia.

• Address: Carrer de València 284, 08007 Barcelona
• Metro: Passeig de Gràcia (lines 2, 3 and 4)

Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA)

Beneath Plaça del Rei, the MUHBA takes visitors down into the remains of Barcino, Roman Barcelona: streets, dyeing workshops, wine vats and the foundations of an early Christian basilica.

Back on the surface, the tour continues in the medieval royal palace and its great Tinell hall, a Gothic room with immense stone arches.

• Address: Plaça del Rei, 08002 Barcelona
• Metro: Jaume I (line 4)

European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM)

Housed in the Gomis Palace, an 18th-century mansion in the Born district, the MEAM is devoted to contemporary figurative art, realist painting and sculpture.

Far from conceptual art, the works on display rely on technical virtuosity and realism. An interesting counterpoint to the Picasso Museum, very close by.

• Address: Carrer de la Barra de Ferro 5, 08003 Barcelona
• Metro: Jaume I (line 4)

Chocolate Museum

Housed in a former convent in the Born district, the chocolate museum tells the story of cocoa's arrival in Europe, via the port of Barcelona, through historic pieces and sculptures made entirely of chocolate.

Monuments, cartoon characters or scenes from Catalan festivals, everything is edible (in theory). The entrance ticket, shaped like a chocolate bar, is eaten on the way out.

• Address: Carrer del Comèrç 36, 08003 Barcelona
• Metro: Arc de Triomf (line 1)

CosmoCaixa

On the heights of Barcelona, this science museum focuses on interactivity. Its centrepiece, the flooded forest, recreates a piece of the Amazon with its fish, birds and tropical climate.

The geological wall, the planetarium and the experiment areas easily fill half a day. A safe bet with children.

• Address: Carrer d'Isaac Newton 26, 08022 Barcelona
• FGC train: Avinguda Tibidabo (line L7)

Maritime Museum

The museum occupies the Drassanes Reials, immense Gothic shipyards where the galleys of the Crown of Aragon were built, at the foot of the Rambla.

Under the stone vaults stands the full-size replica of the royal galley of the Battle of Lepanto, in 1571. Models, maps and instruments complete the tour.

• Address: Avinguda de les Drassanes, 08001 Barcelona
• Metro: Drassanes (line 3)

Design Museum

On Plaça de les Glòries, the Museu del Disseny occupies a cantilevered building that Barcelonans have nicknamed the stapler. It brings together decorative arts, fashion, graphic design and everyday objects.

Haute couture dresses, iconic chairs and posters trace the history of Catalan and European design. Right opposite, Jean Nouvel's Glòries tower completes the setting.

• Address: Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes 37-38, 08018 Barcelona
• Metro: Glòries (line 1)

Antoni Tàpies Foundation

In a former modernista publishing building designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the foundation presents the work of Antoni Tàpies, a major figure of Catalan informal art.

It is easily spotted by its rooftop sculpture, a tangle of metal wires called Cloud and Chair. Inside, raw materials and large canvases follow one another.

• Address: Carrer d'Aragó 255, 08007 Barcelona
• Metro: Passeig de Gràcia (lines 2, 3 and 4)