Barcelona's Culture?

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SUE

Sounds like your homework. Do a little research and you will learn what you have been assigned to.

I, Clavdivs

http://www.bcn.es/turisme/english/turisme/welcome.htm

Official website.

chicken man

In terms of museums, the must see places are Museu Picasso and Fundacio Joan Miro. Both have fantastic collections on individual artists (the Picasso Museum doesn't have a lot of cubist stuff, but no one anywhere has a good representative collection of all his styles. They do have a good blue period collection and the fantastic Las Meninas paintings).

The La Caixa forum has good rotating exhibits in a nice art Noveau building, and it's free. Nearby there is a small Mies van Der Rohe pavilion, and the Museu Nacional de Arte de Catalunya. This latter museum is in a beautiful palace on a hill in Montjuic, but the collection is mostly forgettable (a couple nice El Grecos, some art Noveau, but really, you can miss it). Some weeknights they turn on the fountains with lights in pretty colors.

In terms of architecture, the best stuff is Art Noveau. Barcelona wasn't a very cosmpolitan city until the nineteenth century, and while there are a couple smallish Gothic churches you can see (the Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar), much of the decoration was largely destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Gaudi is king here, and the church of the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell are must sees (the Parc is wildly popular, go very early on a weekday morning if possible). The apartment buildings Casa Mila and Casa Batllo, on Passeig de Gracia, are also quite nice. The block with Casa Batllo is called "manzana de discordia", which is a pun since "manzana" means both "block" and "apple". South of the Casa Batllo are two of Art Noveau apartments with very different styles. There are other Gaudi buildings elsewhere. The palacio Guell near Las Ramblas was closed when I was there, and the Guell Pavilions with the famous dragon gate are nice but small and away from the city center.

Finally, I recommend a visit to the art noveau Palau de Musica. I recommend seeing a concert there in the main hall over the tour. The cost is about the same and hall is stunning and not like anything else you've ever seen, and the music is usually quite good.

Those are the highlights. I lived there a year so feel free to contact me if you want more details.

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