Museu Frederic Marès, Barcelona: All Year

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The Museu Frederic Marès, named after its founder, displays his lifetime collection of Spanish sculpture among other oddities

Spanish sculptor Frederic Marès (1893-1991) devoted his entire life to his one and only passion: sculpture. This museum preserves and displays the end result of his life's work: one of the best collections of Medieval Spanish sculpture in Spain and bourgeois antiquities, donated to the city of Barcelona by himself in 1946.

The extensive collection takes up four whole floors in the former Palace of the Inquisition, and dates from the 3rd to the 19th century. The basement, ground and first floor are almost entirely taken up with religious sculptures, gothic crucifixes and Virgin Marys, appropriate to the surrounding buildings and monuments in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. The second and third floors house the Collector’s Cabinet, an enormous array of 19th century curiosities such as fans, hats, pipes, clocks, walking sticks, photographs, children’s toys, penny farthings and much much more. He also donated some of his own sculptures, which are on display in the Library-Study.

Apart from his close family and friends, nobody knew that he was building up such a huge collection in his studio. The Frederic Marès Museum showcases to the public this man’s passion, or some might say obsession for collecting - you decide.

The museum also features a lovely courtyard and café for visitors to enjoy, called the Café d'Estiu. If you're curious about the personal works of the museum's founder, several of his monuments and sculptures can be found scattered around Barcelona, including the monument to Francesc Layret in the Plaza de Goya and several sculptures in the Plaça de Catalunya.

Museu Frederic Marès

Plaça de Sant Iu, 5, 08002, Barcelona