Museum of the History of Barcelona


The Museum of the History of Barcelona is a history museum that conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the historical heritage of the city of Barcelona, from its origins in Roman times until the present day. The museum's headquarters are located on Plaça del Rei, in the Barcelona Gothic Quarter. It also manages several historic sites all around the city, most of them archaeological sites displaying remains of the ancient Roman city, called Barcino in Latin. Some others date to medieval times, including the Jewish quarter and the medieval royal palace called the Palau Reial Major. The rest are contemporary, among them old industrial buildings and sites related to Antoni Gaudí and the Spanish Civil War.
The museum was inaugurated on 14 April 1943; its principal promoter and first director was the historian Agustí Duran i Sanpere. It belongs to the City Council of Barcelona, as part of the Culture Institute.

History

Since the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition there are recorded some attempts and projects in order to create a museum about the history of Barcelona.
In 1929 during the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition the municipality organized a temporary exhibition about Barcelona's past, present and future that constitutes the forerunner of the Museum of the History of Barcelona,
In 1931, Casa Padellàs, a late gothic palace was moved stone by stone from its original location on Mercaders street to Plaça del Rei, in order to preserve it and to avoid its demolition because of the opening of Via Laietana, an avenue created to connect the new Barcelona Eixample with the port, crossing the old city.
While rebuilding Casa Padellàs on its new location, some remains of the ancient city of Barcino were found. Immediately, an archaeological research was undertaken in the surrounding area, emerging a whole quarter of the Roman city. Spanish Civil War stopped all, though the importance of the findings determined that there was the most fitting location for the historical museum planned since the 19th century, that then would largely become an archaeological museum.
The Museum of the History of Barcelona was finally inaugurated after the Spanish Civil War, in 1943, under francoist regime.
The core of the museum was then centered on the archaeological remains of the Roman and late antique city together with the medieval royal palace in Plaça del Rei, which includes the main hall called Saló del Tinell and the palatine chapel dedicated to Saint Agatha with its gothic altarpiece, a work of the medieval painter Jaume Huguet. In the rebuilt Casa Padellàs rooms were also exhibited objects witnessing the history of Barcelona along late medieval and modern times, until 20th-century beginnings: the city government and its regulations, the guilds, civic celebrations, wars and conflicts, crafts and trade, the International Expositions held in Barcelona and the growing and transformations of the city in the industrial era, among other topics.
Gradually, the museum incorporated new sites like the Temple of Augustus or the Roman funeral way in Vila de Madrid square. The archaeological Plaça del Rei area also grew with new findings like the Early Christian baptistery.
At the end of francoism, when democracy was recovered in Spain, the role of the museum was reconsidered. The permanent, static, exhibition about the history of Barcelona in Casa Padellàs rooms was closed. Thus, since 1996, Casa Padellàs rooms serve for temporary exhibitions that allow more dynamic overviews and crossed discussions about key subjects of Barcelona's history. Simultaneously, the archaeological area was completely remodelled and its museography updated, incorporating recent knowledge about the city in Roman and late antique times.
Along the last decades, MUHBA has also put the focus on contemporary history and has been growing as a network of heritage sites, tending to provide through them a more complete coverage over the History of Barcelona.
Since 2005 MUHBA publishes the scientific magazine Quarhis as an updated resume of the former magazine Cuadernos de Arqueología e Historia de la Ciudad
MUHBA impulses a European network of city history museums and research centers on urban history.

Museum sites

The Museum of the History of Barcelona has several heritage sites spread all around the city. Most of them are archaeological sites displaying remains of the ancient Roman city, called Barcino. Others refer to medieval times and the rest cover the contemporary city, including old industrial buildings and sites related to Gaudí and the Spanish Civil War.