If you like incredible museums and great views then you need to find a vacation rental in Barcelona and take a day trip to the seaside beautiful town of Sitges, where you will find the rather special Maricel Museum.
The Maricel Museum, or Museu de Maricel, is located in the Maricel Palace and traces its origins to 1969, when the Barcelona Provincial Corporation bought the building to house the collection of Doctor Jesús Pérez-Rosales, who had been a well known gynaecologist and an avid art collector. The museum was then opened to the public in 1970, with over 3,000 items on display, including Romanesque murals, Gothic paintings on wood, Renaissance carvings and altarpieces, sculptures, items of furniture, precious metals, ceramics, porcelain and many works that chart Spanish art from the 12th century to the 20th century. In 1995 the Maricel Museum was also made home to the "Vila de Sitges" collection of art, about fifty works by local Sitges in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Maricel Museum, or Museu de Maricel, is located in the Maricel Palace and traces its origins to 1969, when the Barcelona Provincial Corporation bought the building to house the collection of Doctor Jesús Pérez-Rosales, who had been a well known gynaecologist and an avid art collector. The museum was then opened to the public in 1970, with over 3,000 items on display, including Romanesque murals, Gothic paintings on wood, Renaissance carvings and altarpieces, sculptures, items of furniture, precious metals, ceramics, porcelain and many works that chart Spanish art from the 12th century to the 20th century. In 1995 the Maricel Museum was also made home to the "Vila de Sitges" collection of art, about fifty works by local Sitges in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Charting the works and the progress of Spanish art, the museum uses displays offered in several languages and multi-media installations to proper illustrate it for all visitors. Visits begin on the second floor with Romanesque and Gothic sculptures by the likes of Pere Serra, the Master of All, the Master of Maluenda, the Master of Armisen, the Master of Belmonte, the Master of Son, Joan d'Angers, and others, as well as pieces of antique furniture. Renaissance and Baroque collections of ceramics, furniture, and still lifes are also on display on the second floor while the first floor is home to paintings and furniture dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. This includes Neoclassic, Romantic, Realist, Luminist, "Modernisme", and "Noucentisme" works, both sculptures and paintings. The ground floor, meanwhile, is home to the ancient Gothic chapel of the Hospital of Sant Joan, altarpieces of Sant Salvador d'Alzina de Ribelles and other medieval works of art but also boasts a hall with spectacular views over the sea. In the space between this viewpoint and the Sert Hall there is a reflection on the movement between realism and figuration in the interwar and postwar years, with the whole visit concluding with the large murals that are an allegory of the Great War (painted between 1915 and 1916 “in the hope of Allied victory”) in the Sert Hall.
A stunning museum space with a fascinating collection and some truly amazing views, it is a very special place and a must for those visiting this part of Spain.
A stunning museum space with a fascinating collection and some truly amazing views, it is a very special place and a must for those visiting this part of Spain.
Photo credits
Picture 1: Amadalvarez / CC BY-SA 4.0
Picture 1: Amadalvarez / CC BY-SA 4.0
