17.05.2014 - 09:45
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familía Basilica and Museum and Figueres’ Salvador Dalí Theatre-Museum topped Catalonia’s rankings with 3.2 million and 1.6 million visitors respectively. In total, 21,593,992 people visited Catalonia’s museums and collections during last year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Catalan Ministry of Culture. FC Barcelona’s Museum came in third place with 1.5 million people, followed by the science museum CosmoCaixa (1.25 million) and the temporary exhibitions center CaixaForum Barcelona (979,000 people). The last two are owned and managed by the Catalan savings bank La Caixa, which partially owns Spain’s largest retail financial entity CaixaBank. The Art-Nouveau buildings designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí La Pedrera and Casa Batlló, both on Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia Boulevard, are also among the highlights, with 973,000 and 796,000 visitors respectively. Barcelona’s Picasso Museum (915,000) and the Joan Miró Foundation (911,000) are among the most popular art centers. This coming weekend, coinciding with International Museums’ Day, most of them will organize extra activities such as free tours, conferences and workshops, among other things. In addition, many of them will be open on the night of the 17th of May.
The previously mentioned museums, collections and monuments top Catalonia’s ranking, but other art centers have also attracted a significant number of visitors. Barcelona City’s History Museum welcomed 776,000 people in 2013. The historical and archaeological site Born Cultural Centre, unveiled last September in Barcelona’s Born neighborhood, received 676,000 visitors in less than 4 months after it opened its doors, and a total of 1,350,000 visitors since its inauguraion as of May 15, 2014. “We are very pleased,” said Quim Torra, El Born CC’s director, “Barcelona and Catalonia have adopted the center as their own, and have made it a meeting point for Catalan history and culture. This success parallels the rediscovery that Catalans are making of their country and their history.”
Another archaeological center, Tarragona’s History Museum, with an impressive collection of art and ruins from the Roman Empire, received 649,000 people. Catalonia’s National Museum of Art (MNAC) hosted 636,000 visitors and Barcelona’s Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA), 627,000.
Then, the ranking goes to centers with less than 300,000 visitors, such as Barcelona’s Maritime Museum (299,000), Catalonia’s Archaeology Museum (293,000), Barcelona Egyptian Museum (250,000), Girona City’s History Museum (233,000), Fran Daurel contemporary art Foundation in Barcelona (211,000) and Barcelona Wax Museum (199,000).
