Archive for 'Museums & Galleries in Spain'

The Spanish city of Zaragoza is a pretty magical and beautiful place. It is over 2,000 years old, home to many an architectural gem, filled with some of the best examples of Moorish architecture outside of Andalusia, houses the richest selection of works by Goya, boasts a delicious cuisine, and is home to, not one, but two great cathedrals: the Basílicade Nuestra Señora del Pilar and the Catedral del Salvador de Zaragoza, which both share co-cathedral status in metropolitan Zaragoza. The latter of these two is a fascinating blend of architectural styles and periods and is one of the finest buildings in all of Spain. If you have found a vacation rental in Catalonia or a holiday rental in Valencia and are thinking about spending a day exploring the extraordinary city of Zaragoza, this characteristic building is one of the must-see stops to pencil into your itinerary.

Madrid's Prado Museum is celebrating a very big birthday this coming year, turning 200 in November. Opened in 1819 after the Spanish queen, Isabella of Braganza, came back from a visit to the Louvre and found herself wanting to display her own remarkable collection in an amazing building, it co-opted a space originally designed by Juan de Villanueva to house the Natural History Cabinet. This vast and grand 18th century structure is a Neoclassical gem that is home to the extraordinarily rich royal collections, which includes works by great masters such as Rembrandt, Titian, Goya, Raphael, Rubens, and Bosch, among many others. If you have found a vacation rental in Madrid, it is certainly a must-see, as one of the finest art galleries in the world.

In order to celebrate this special occasion, there is a bicentennial exhibition currently on display in the museum and there will be a calendar of events throughout the year, as well as a program of lending travelling exhibitions and works to other institutions all over Spain. The “Museo del Prado 1819-2019. A place of memory” exhibition, curated by Javier Portús (the Museo del Prado Senior Curator of Spanish Painting up to 1700), opened last year and will continue until the 10th of March 2019 and was the launching event of the extensive program. It surveys the museum’s history, the relationship between the Museum and the public, the trends in the collection over the years, its growth into the incredible institution that is it today, and some of its particular treasures including works by El Greco and Murillo.

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.

Casa Botines is a stunning little architectural gem in the city of León that might surprise visitors to the city: it is one of only a few buildings by Gaudí located outside the region of Catalonia and a rare treat to stumble upon. Just find a vacation rental in Castille and Leónand make a point to visit when you're in the city.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Gaudí, who had never left Barcelona before, headed to León to design a tissue store, Casa Botines. Commissioned by Simón Fernández and Mariano Andrés, the owners of a company that bought fabrics from Güell, to build a residential building and warehouse, it was built between 1891 and 1892. The name by which it known today comes from the last name of the company's former owner, Joan Homs i Botinàs.

Joan Miró was born into a family of goldsmiths and watchmakers in the Barri Gòtic neighborhood of Barcelona. He began drawing classes at the age of seven at a private school and, at 14, he enrolled at the fine art academy of La Llotja and later studied at the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc. In 1918, at 25, he had his first show at the Galeries Dalmau, which was widely ridiculed. Sensing his work would not be appreciated fully at home, he moved to become part of the flourishing Fauve and Cubist scenes in Montparnasse, continuing to summer in Catalonia. In Paris, Hemingway became an early fan and Miró became part of the Surrealist group. In the following decades, he moved between different genres and artistic styles and became a lauded name in the art world.