10 Free Museums in Barcelona: Explore Culture Without Breaking the Bank
Barcelona boasts architectural wonders, breathtaking streets, and a culture-rich life. Many tourists flawedly consider visiting museums here an expensive pleasure; quite a few museums in Catalonia's capital open for free on certain days. So much the better for an opportunity to explore history, art, and science at no cost! In this article, we shall give you a run-down of ten such museums, little interesting facts about them, and reasons why they should be on your itinerary.
1. Picasso Museum (Museu Picasso)
🆓 Free entry: The first Sunday of the month and Thursdays from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Situated in the El Born section of the city, the museum inhabits a host of impressive and ancient mansions of the Palace Another testament to the atypical and artistic ambiance in which these historically rich residences are perceived. The collection of over 4,000 works thus portrays a comprehensive image of the up-and-coming artist.
🎨 Did you know? One of the museum's premier collections is a series of paintings entitled Meninas, which is an eye-catching reinterpretation of Velázquez's 1606 work. Picasso subjected the original composition to strokes of various unknown changes, altering color, form, and perspective at each successive moment to explore multiple ways of seeing and perceiving reality.
2. National Art Museum of Catalonia (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, MNAC)
🆓 Free entry: Anytime Saturday from 3:00 PM, the first Sunday of every month, and September 11, May 18, and September 24.
Set by the grand Palau Nacional atop Montjuïc Hill, it treats its visitors to one of the most respected collections of Romanesque icons on this planet. All bar the most awe-inspiring Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque artworks co-habit with all the rest of Modernisme and avant-garde and vis-à-vis cherished works like those of the noteworthy Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, Catalan artists in the latter parts of the 19th and early parts of the 20th centuries.
🏛 Did you know? One of its most evocative departments is the Romanesque frescoes chamber where whole church walls have been respectfully reconstructed to save frescoes from being forever lost.
Location: Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuïc, s/n, Sants-Montjuïc, 08038
3. Barcelona History Museum (Museu d'Història de Barcelona, MUHBA)
🆓 Free entry: Every Sunday after 3:00 PM, the first Sunday of every month.
Walk down this museum's corridors and you will relive the ancient years when Barcelona was known as Barcino, thriving under the wings of the Roman Empire. Stairs down, wander in upon Roman streets, Roman buildings, and even a Roman winemaker.
🏺 Did you know? In the museum's backyard, are ruins of an ancient Roman washing facility where Barcinanians would throw in their dirty clothes and ammonia-a very old cleansing agent in history.
Location: Pl. del Rei, s/n, Ciutat Vella, 08002
4. Barcelona Museum of Natural Sciences (Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona)
🆓 Free entry: Every first Sunday of the month and Sundays after 3:00 pm.
This museum provides a great environment for families with children and those who share an interest in nature. Exhibitions on the diversity of life, from dinosaur fossils to unique minerals and exotic plants, are all found here.
🌍 Did you know? The museum has a giant whale skeleton measuring 20 meters in length, which was discovered off the coast of Catalonia in the 19th century.
5. Museum of Music (Museu de la Música)
🆓 Free entry: For all visitors every Sunday after 3 PM, every first Sunday in the month, and on May 18 and September 24.
The Music Museum of Barcelona plunges deep into the enthralling international of sound and musical devices, providing also the way of life, history, and evolution of music. Located interior of L'Auditori, this museum gives an extensive observe diverse factors of human music traditions at the same time as showing some 500 musical instruments from distinctive instances and cultures. Ranging from early string and wind instruments to electric synthesizer guitars from the contemporary day, the collection is a telltale sign of the evolution of tune at some stage in the centuries reflecting the numerous components of human creativity.
🎵 Did you know? One gem of that collection is an 18th-century harpsichord played by the leading Baroque composers of Spain.
Location: Carrer de Lepant, 150, L'Eixample, 08013
6. Barcelona Maritime Museum (Museu Marítim de Barcelona)
🆓 Free entry: All Sunday evenings after 3 PM, May 18, and September 24.
This museum was historically located in 15th-century shipyards and focuses on Catalonia's maritime-related history. Here, visitors can view model ships, navigating instruments, and even life-size replicas of a royal galley.
⚓ Did you know? Inside, you can see a replica of the famous Juan de Austria ship, which contributed substantially to the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.
7. El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria
🆓 Free entry: Every day.
El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria is a unique cultural space located on the site of Barcelona's old market, giving an insight into the city's historical past. An extensive archaeological site lies beneath its distinctive metal-glass frameworks, showing the remains of 18th-century Barcelona before its destruction during the War of Spanish Succession. Save for the homes, shops, and roadways, which make up the foundation of the city, the dig has unveiled how residents lived before their makeshift existence was shattered by war.
🏚 Did you know? The ruins preserved here comprise houses destroyed in 1714, either during the siege of Barcelona or subsequently.
Location: Plaça Comercial, 12, Ciutat Vella, 08003
8. Joan Miró Foundation (Fundació Joan Miró)
🆓 Free entry: First Sunday of the month.
La Fundació Joan Miró or Museu Joan Miró or simply Joan Miró Foundation (Fundació Joan Miró) is another significant place in Barcelona where art and culture merge. It focuses, among various other things, on the works of the great Catalan artist Joan Miró. It is almost like a junction point between art, creation, architecture, and more. Founded in 1975 by Miró himself, the foundation sought to instill among younger artists Miró's groundbreaking vision of art.
🖌 Did you know? The architect of this building was Miró's friend, Josep-Lluís Sert, and is hailed as a masterpiece of modernist architecture.
9. Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA)
🆓 Free entry: Saturday, 4:00 PM-8:00 PM.
This museum is called one of the most iconic museums in the entire city. One can find many original pieces of art starting from the mid-twentieth century and beyond, all created by a rich cross-section of contemporary artists. The ever-active El Raval district is also a congregation spot for streetball artists, trail runners, and skaters, given the fact that they find an area cool.
🖼 Did you know? Its arty images emanate within the Richard Meier-designed building.
10. European Museum of Modern Art (Museu Europeu d'Art Modern, MEAM)
🆓 Free entry: On the first Sunday of the month.
MEAM Financial Corp's muscle is its works of figuration - painting and sculpture of 21st-century origin. Unlike most contemporary art museums, MEAM showcases works that all have been made by human hands and paints, with no use of digital technology whatsoever.
🎭 Did you know? The museum's collection mostly contains artists continuing the classical realism tradition, so offers an alternative to any other modern art institution.
Location: Carrer de la Barra de Ferro, 5, Ciutat Vella, 08003
A lot of free activities allow one to experience art and culture in Barcelona. Take these exceptional free-entry days to gain an insight into Catalonia's heritage without paying even a single euro!