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curry houses,
halal
butchers and hole-in-the-wall telephone offices advertising
cheap international calls.
You’d hesitate to call El Raval gentrified, as it clearly still has its rough edges.
You needn’t be unduly concerned during the day as you make your way
around, but it’s as well to keep your wits about you at night, particularly in the
southernmost streets.
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
Anchoring the northern reaches of El Raval is the iconic
Museu d’Art
Contemporani de Barcelona
, or
MACBA
, in Plaça dels Angels (mid-June
to mid-Sept Mon &Wed 11am–8pm,Thurs & Fri 11am–midnight, Sat 10am–
8pm, Sun & holidays 10am–3pm; rest of the year closes weekdays at 7.30pm;
closed Tues all year; admission €4 or €7.50, depending on exhibitions visited,
Wed €3, 3-month season ticket €10;
T
934 120 810,
W
www.macba.es;
o
Catalunya/Universitat), which opened in 1995. The contrast between the
huge, white, almost luminous, structure of the museum and the buildings
around it couldn’t be more stark. The aim of the architect, American Richard
Meier, was to make as much use of natural light as possible and to “create a
dialogue” between the museum and its surroundings; this is reflected in the
front side of the building, which is contructed entirely of glass. Once inside, you
go from the ground to the fourth floor up a series of swooping ramps which
afford continuous views of the square below – usually full of careering skate-
boarders – and the sixteenth-century Convent dels Àngels.
The
collection
represents the main movements in contemporary art since
1945, mainly in Catalunya and Spain but with a smattering of foreign artists as
well. The pieces are not usually shown together in a permanent space but in
smaller rotating exhibitions, so, depending on when you visit, you may catch
works by major names such as Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Eduardo Chillida,
Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg or Paul Klee. Joan Brossa, leading light
of the Catalan Dau al Set group of the 1950s, has work here too, as do contem-
porary multimedia and installation artists like Antoni Muntadas and Francesc
Torres. Probably the best way to acquaint yourself with the collection is to take
the free
guided tour
(in English on Mon at 6pm, otherwise Mon–Sat at 6pm,
plus Sat & Sun at 1pm, and night tours in summer).There’s also a good museum
shop selling everything from designer espresso cups to art books, and a café-bar
around the back that’s part of the CCCB (contemporary culture centre).
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de
Barcelona
Adjoining MACBA, up c/Montalegre, is the
Centre de Cultura Contem-
porània de Barcelona
, or
CCCB
(Tues–Sun 11am–8pm, Thurs until
10pm; €4.50 or €6 depending on exhibitions visited, free on 1st Wed of
month;
T
933 064 100,
W
www.cccb.org;
o
Catalunya/Universitat), which
hosts temporary art and city-related exhibitions as well as supporting a
cinema and a varied concert and festival programme. The imaginatively
restored building is a prime example of the juxtaposition of old and new;
originally built in 1714 on the site of a fourteenth-century Augustinian
convent, it was for hundreds of years an infamous workhouse and lunatic
asylum. In the entrance to the centre, in what is now called the Plaça de les
Dones, you can see the old tile panels and facade in a patio presided over by
a small statue of Sant Jordi (patron saint of Catalunya). At the back of the
EL RAVAL
|
Museu d’Art Contemporani
de Barcelona • Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona