Ethnology Museum of Barcelona: All year

The Ethnology Museum of Barcelona is perched on the edge of the Laribal Gardens on a steep hillside in Montjuic. The museum, completely reformed in 2015, dedicates its three floors to furthering the visitor’s understanding and interpretation of their social environment. The main focus is on Catalan society, though it makes strong connections with other cultures.

The permanent exhibition Feel our Heritage is made up of groups of objects related to different areas of human life. A 20 metre-long frieze covers the right-side wall of the room featuring a collage of pieces from different origins that exemplify the plurality of Catalan society. Six large-scale objects occupy the centre of the room and represent six thematic domains that exist in all cultures: tools, toys, kitchen utensils, costumes and weapons, utensils for religious rituals, and instruments. The six main pieces are accompanied by smaller complementary objects such as the traditional wooden cruppers engraved with geometric and floral motifs, and the diatonic accordion, which exemplify how different societies often come to similar solutions when faced with the same challenges of daily life.

Ethnology is a subjective and intangible concept that is very difficult to define. Far from encapsulating and boxing it in, the objects in the museum are a starting point which illustrate the idiosyncrasy and universality of human culture and encourage new trains of thought.

On the bottom floor there is a visitable archive collection featuring a total of 46 display cabinets full of diverse objects from the seven continents, where you will also find the library, specialised in Catalan Anthropology, Ethnology, Social Science and Arts. The museum dedicates an entire floor to temporary exhibitions which explore the most current themes of the discourse, and the conference room provides a space to discuss related topics.

Ethnology Museum of Barcelona

Passeig de Santa Madrona, 16, 08038 Barcelona

Opening hours

Monday-Saturday, 10.00-19.00

Sunday and public holidays, 10.00-20.00

Monday, closed