Permanent Exhibition 'Sculpture and Collecting'

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14 May 2011 · 10:00

Plaça de Sant Iu, el Barri Gòtic, Ciutat Vella

The most prominent Catalan collector of the 20th century, sculptor Frederic Marès (1893-1991), donated his collections to the city of Barcelona in 1946. Two years later, this museum opened in part of the former Palau Reial dels Comtes de Barcelona, in the heart of the Barri Gòtic, whose courtyard or garden is preserved. Sculpture. Frederic Marès turned sculpture into more than an artistic vocation. Throughout his life he assembled an extensive collection of Hispanic sculpture, from antiquity to the 19th century, dominated by polychrome carving and forming the museum's most coherent section. Marès also donated part of his own sculptural work, displayed in his studio-library. Collector's Cabinet. Tens of thousands of objects form a vast collection of collections documenting ways of life and customs of the past, mainly from the 19th century. Visitors can find both touching and unusual objects such as fans, pipes, clocks, jewellery, photographs, toys, keys, pharmacy jars and reliquaries which, presented in an intimate atmosphere, evoke Marès's particular universe.

Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona · checked on 8 September 2026

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