A Christmas full of magic at the Museums of the city
There you will find more than 150 special activities during the festivities, many of which are aimed at the family public.
The Christmas spirit enters the city’s museums and heritage facilities throughout December and the first days of January. Many of them have prepared special activities related to the season, mostly aimed at a family audience, such as workshops, games…
A number of exhibitions are also opening these days. This is the case of the Photographic Archive of Barcelona, which opens Jordi Pol. In the crowd, an exhibition that aims to give visibility to Barcelona photographers who have been working in the city since the late 1960s. The photographs on display document the Barcelona of before the transformation that took place in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games. The Historic Archive of the City of Barcelona is also presenting a new exhibition. The exhibition is entitled The Art of the Poster in Barcelona and features visual communication elements that were present in the streets of the city throughout the 20th century. There are posters by authors such as Josep Obiols, Francesc Galí, John Hassall, Peret (Pere Torrent) and Xavier Mariscal, as well as other lesser-known ones.
The Disseny Hub will host the Design Market Barcelona, the independent designers’ market organised every Christmas by the Foment de les Arts i del Disseny (FAD). After ten years it has established itself as an essential meeting point for lovers of good design. It will be held from 16 to 18 December. And the Museu del Diseny de Barcelona this festive season proposes the workshop ‘Model and illuminate’, aimed at children aged 9 to 12, to work with ceramics and create a unique and original candle-holder, and also the workshop ‘Justa la fusta!’, for children aged 6 to 8, where they will visit the exhibition Knock on wood! and explore the qualities of this material in a dynamic and fun way.
Music will be played at the Royal Monastery of St Mary of Pedralbes on 22 December for the Christmas Concert: the Qvinta Essençia ensemble will offer a journey through the history of Christmas music from the Renaissance to the present day, focusing both on the solemnity and religious mysticism and on the joy and popular character of the celebration of this festive season. At El Born Centro de Cultura y Memoria there will be the Christmas workshops ‘Bornautes! A universe of innovations in the Born’, aimed at children aged 6 to 12. The aim of these workshops is to promote the creation of a space for play and imagination. It also organises the express guided tour ‘A Christmas in 1700’, and guided tours of the exhibition Another End. THE REST. Art and anti-Francoism, an exhibition that brings together works by nineteen contemporary artists from different generations.
At the Frederic Marès Musuem you can visit the traditional nativity scene, while at the Arús Public Library there will be guided tours the day after Sant Esteve. And family workshops will fill the Christmas days at the Ethnologic and World Cultures Museum; they will be organised based on traditional Japanese games, legends, or the one entitled ‘Ready, set, play’, in which children and adults can discover, by visiting the museum, how children played many years ago, or what are the most common games played by children from distant countries.
In venues such as the MACBA, the CCCB, the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, the Joan Miró Foundation o the Picasso Museum, as well as being able to see the current exhibitions, there will also be different activities for children. For example, at the CCCB on 22 December and 5 January, two Christmas-themed episodes of the legendary series Pippi Longstocking will be screened. The Museum of Natural Sciences and the Maritime Museum of Barcelona (MMB) are joining forces once again in a new edition of the Family Museum Quiz, a game of questions and answers in which families play in teams; registration opens on 16 December. In the Oval Room of the National Art Museum of Catalonia, families can enjoy a circuit of activities to play and experiment with art.
Casa Batlló offers the night-time experience A Night 100 Years Ago, a journey through the history of the building. Many other museums and heritage facilities in the city, such as CaixaForum Barcelona, Casa Museo Amatller, History Museum of Catalonia, Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia, Egyptian Musem, Sagrada Familia, Palau Güell or Poble Espanyol, also organise special activities for the festive season. Remember, however, that before visiting the city’s museums during the Christmas holidays, check the opening times, as some holidays are not open – they are all closed on 25 December and 1 January – and on some days there are changes compared to the rest of the year – especially on 24, 26 and 31 December and 5 and 6 January.