Barcelona will open the Museum of World Cultures in June 2014

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona is widening its range of museums and the latest offer is the Museum of World Cultures, which will open in June 2014 in two gothic palaces in front of the Picasso Museum: Palau Nadal and Palau Marquès de Lió. The two buildings were respectively hosting the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Pre-Columbian Art – which has closed its doors since the collection left Barcelona – and the Design Hub (DHUB) – which will move to a brand new building in Glòries Square. Visitors of the Museum of World Cultures will discover the world through about 700 pieces of art from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. Most of the pieces come from the non-western collections of the Ethnological Museum of Barcelona and private collections, such as Folch’s collection. The Museum of World Cultures will cost €5 million and will occupy an area of 2,100 square meters.

The Museum of World Cultures in Barcelona will occupy two gothic palaces in front of Picasso’s Museum in Montcada Street, in the Born neighbourhood. Both buildings have to be adapted to the new museum’s needs, which will cost around €5 million. In addition, currently the Marquès de Lió Palace hosts the DHUB, which is moving to a brand new centre in Glòries Square. The new museum is expected to open to the public in June 2014.

Barcelona Culture Councilman, Jaume Ciurana, has explained that this museum completes the full range of museums in the Catalan capital. He has also highlighted that “the location of this museum helps to configure a route” from the Gothic to La Ribera and Born neighbourhoods, “with Picasso’s Museum and the Born Cultural Centre, which will be one of the most important cultural centres of the country”.

Private collections

The Museum of World Cultures will have an artistic fund based on mainly private collections. The most important one is Folch’s collection which has about 2,300 objects and was given to the Barcelona City Council in 2011 for a 20 year period. Other contributions will be made from the publicly-owned Ethnological Museum of Barcelona and other private collections.

The new museum will only display about 700 pieces of art in permanent and temporary exhibitions. The rest of the pieces will be stored in the Ethnological Museum of Barcelona, in Montjuic.

Regarding the new museum’s structure, temporary exhibitions will be shown on the ground floors of the two buildings. The permanent collection will be displayed on the first and second floors. Art works from Oceania and Asia on the first floor, and those from Africa and America on the second floor. Asia is the most well represented continent because 33% of the art pieces are from this world region, followed by America (South and Centre) with 32%, Africa (19%), and Oceania (16%).

All in one

The Director of Heritage, Museums and Archives of the Barcelona City Council, Josep Lluís Alay, has detailed that “this is the first time that non-western art from the four continents will be displayed in the same museum”. The other novelty, he has explained, is that this is also the first time that Barcelona has had artworks from Africa and Asia in a permanent exhibition.