Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is one of the most important museums in Catalonia and has pieces of Catalan and world art from the 11th century up to the mid-20th century comprising a range from sculpture and painting through to photography and engravings.

The National Art Museum of Catalonia is located in Montjuic National Palace, built on the occasion of the Barcelona Universal Exposition in 1929, and was the subject of a vast renovation that ended in 2004.

It houses pieces of Catalan and world art from the 11th century to the mid-20th century, from sculptures and paintings to photography and etchings.

The Romanesque art section has a prominent collection of sculptures, wood carvings, gold and silver pieces, and mural painting, mainly Catalan, such as Sant Climent de Taüll's central apse, one of the masterpieces of Romanesque painting, and other murals from Vall de Boí.

In the vast exhibition of Gothic art visitors can see the recreation of the interior of several temples with the original paintings. The important Renaissance and Baroque collection is more international, with works by El Greco, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Rubens.

This last exhibition includes de Cambó's bequest, a collection of paintings covering the history of European painting from the 14th century to the beginnings of the 19th century.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza painting collection was given to the city of Barcelona in 1983. During two decades it was housed in the Pedralbes monastery, but in 2005 was transferred to the MNAC. The pieces make up a collection of paintings and sculptures covering European art from the Gothic to the Rococo style, with artists such as Fra Angelico, Tiziano, Tintoretto, Zurbarán, Velázquez, Rubens, Tiepolo and Piazzetta.

The Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection gathers more than 350 Catalan works of art from the mid-19th century to the second half of the 20th century, with works by Marià Fortuny, Ramon Casas, Anglada Camarasa, Joaquim Mir, Joaquim Sunyer and Antoni Tàpies.

The Museum of Modern Art, which used to be in the Ciutadella Park, was moved to this site in 2004, ceding the building it occupied to the Catalan Parliament. Its collections cover Catalan art from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, including periods such as Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Catalan Modernisme and Noucentisme, and the avant-garde, with works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Joaquim Sunyer and Antoni Gaudí.

In the same site there is the Numismatic Department of Catalonia, which owns a total of 130,000 pieces, and the General Library of Art History.