MNAC
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
I dragged the kids to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya to see Osamu Tezuka, God of Manga, thinking Mad would enjoy it. The show was small but beautiful but we didn't have time to see anything else, so I came back alone a little later. The museum building, or Palau Nacional, was built to be the centerpiece of the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. It is over-the-top monumental, on a hill at the end of a long avenue and a series of terraced fountains. Its colossal scale brings to the Victor Emmanuel II national monument in Rome, which was dedicated in 1911 (for the Turin International world fair).
More about the building and the vast cultural complex surrounding it is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museu_Nacional_d%27Art_de_Catalunya#The_building
Maxi and mini.
The approach up to the museum.
Buskers, vendors and tourists congregate on the large terrace in front of the museum building.
The terrace offers a panoramic view of the city. A statue doubles as a seat for a street vendor.
The massive Sala Oval.
The dome in the second floor lobby.
Interior modifications were made in the 1990s by the architect Gae Aulenti. I found them to be at home in the huge Sala Oval and central lobby, but heavy-handed inside some of the galleries.
The museum has an amazing late medieval, renaissance and baroque collection of Catalan painting and sculpture.
https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/presenting-the-new-renaissance-and-baroque-galleries/
I was struck by how beautifully conserved many of the older paintings are, and I'm not surprised to learn that the museum has a notable conservation center.
