Catalonia opens first museum dedicated to Renaissance life and art

Catalonia has its first museum dedicated to life and art during the Renaissance.  

The Museu del Renaixement in Molins de Rei aims to "explain the story of the Renaissance from different points of view," museum director, Damià Martínez, tells Catalan News.

"We talk about science, we talk about culture of course, and art, but also discoveries. The 16th century was a very important period for the discoveries of the New World."

In total, the museum has around 100 works of art "to explain the complexity and the beauty of that time," Martínez says.

Requesens Palace

Originating in Italy, the Renaissance was an era in which art and culture came to the fore.

In the 16th century, the town of Molins de Rei, 15 km west of Barcelona, played an important role in the history of this period through the Requesens family, their palace and their close relationship with Spanish monarchs Charles V and Philip II. 

Housed in the refurbished Requesens Palace, nearly €3 million has been invested in the new museum, with 70% financed with EU funding.

Collaboration with MNAC

The museum is home to works from Molins de Rei Municipal Museum, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), the Barcelona Design Museum, and others.

MNAC director Pepe Serra explains the collaboration is a result of a policy introduced some years ago.

"If we have a big national collection, even if it's in the National Museum, it belongs to all the country," Serra says.

Giving works to local museums on long-term loans "is a way of changing the museums' map in Catalonia," he says. "Everything cannot happen in Barcelona."

Serra highlights the need for museums like the Museu del Renaixement to exist across Catalonia, not just in the capital, and it's not just about the works themselves, it is about connecting people, building community – a museum as "a social institution."

Art and life

Many of the artworks on display show the new approach to art during the Renaissance – the use of perspective, more naturalistic depictions of the human body and clothing, new techniques such as oil painting.

But several items in the museum are objects that allow us to imagine everyday life during the period – coins, a desk, a helmet, a set of wine glasses.

The jewel in the crown of the museum is a huge handmade wool and silk tapestry bought in 1557 by the Catalan government from a workshop in Brussels, the most important producer of tapestries at the time.

At five meters high and nine meters long, it is "an enormous piece" Serra explains, "not very common in the collections in Catalonia." 

"It changes the visual discourse in a museum. It's a very refreshing piece if you are just looking at paintings," Serra says.

The Museu del Renaixement opens on December 15 and hopes to attract 6,000 to 10,000 visitors per year.