A 20-metre-long whale skeleton welcomes visitors at Barcelona’s new Blue Space

Barcelona (ACN).- The historic whale skeleton from the Natural History Museum was put on public display again this Tuesday, but in a new location. The 20-metre-long whale is hanging over the visitors entrance stairwell of the Blue Museum (Museu Blau), which is part of Barcelona’s Natural History Museum, split into four locations throughout the city and managed by Barcelona’s Town Hall. The skeleton weighs 1 tone and dates from 1862. It belonged to a whale that was beached in the Costa Brava. The visitor's entrance has been closed since July 1^st to hang the whale skeleton, a complex process that has managed to display the animal in a more natural position than its previous location. The Blue Museum is located within a futuristic blue triangle, the Forum building, designed by Pritzker-prize-winning architects Herzog & De Meuron for the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures, held in Barcelona. The building will host a permanent zoological exhibition, as well as “laboratories of life”, which will explain some aspects of nature having a key role in evolution. In addition, the building has a large theatre, is next to a conference centre and is located in a new business and urban area along the coast, known as the Forum and Diagonal Mar.

After some years of waiting for a permanent use, the blue triangle is fully functioning. It will display a 3,000 square metre permanent exhibition called “Planet Life”, which explains the Gaia theory, focusing on the evolution of Earth and biological life. The exhibition is formed by collections from the former Zoology Museum, located at the Castell dels Tres Dragons (the Three Dragons’ Castle), an Art-Nouveau pavilion built for the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exhibition at the Ciutadella Park. Now, the old building is being renovated and will host research and scientific activities in the future. It will be part of the new Barcelona Natural History Museum, formed by this pavilion, the Blue Museum, the Martorell Museum (also in the Ciutadella Park and hosted geological collections) and Montjuïc’s Botanical Gardens and Institute. 

This galaxy of centres that will form Barcelona’s Natural History Museum are also the embryo for Catalonia’s National Museum of Natural Sciences, which will  probably be built in the Ciutadella Park, according to Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor for Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation, Jaume Ciurana. Ciurana also unveiled that within the next few weeks, a public administration consortium will be formed to guarantee the needed funds for the first years of Catalonia’s National Science Museum.