Barcelona - Citadel Park Parc de la Ciutadella

Right at the rear Citadel Park you will come to the ostentatious Cascade, supplied by a canal and containing a number of allegorical figures and gargoyles in the form of animals. In front of it stands the Music Pavilion and a giant bronze statue of a cat on which children love to play, as well as a large one of a mammoth pointing to the nearby Zoo.

On the southwestern edge of the Parc de la Ciutadella, along the Passeig Picasso, stand the Hivernacle, a large glazed iron building dating from the turn of the century (recently restored and used for exhibitions and cultural events).

A short distance to the southwest of the Parc de la Ciutadella and on the far side of the Passeig de Picasso stands the Mercat del Born, once the largest market hall in the city. It was built on a steel skeleton in 1873-76 from designs by the architects Antoni Rovira, Josep Fontserè and Josep Comet. Today the hall is used as a cultural center with regular functions and temporary exhibitions.

The Museum of Modern Art has since 1945 been housed in the extreme left wing of the Palau de la Ciutadella where the Parliament of Catalonia (regional parliament) is also situated. The Municipal Palace was built in the 18th C. as an arsenal, the museum wing being added about the turn of the century.

The term "Museum of Modern Art" is somewhat misleading, for the exhibits - predominantly works by Catalan artists - go back in time via Historicism the Romantic period. Correspondingly, in the older sections, most of which are arranged in chronological order, the themes are conventional (portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, a few large historical paintings). Of interest is the Art Nouveau section (furniture, pictures, sculpture), and also Expressionist and early modern works and sculptures from the first third of the 20th C.

The visitor then goes up a staircase to the upper floor and here can be seen a graphic collection with a large number of extremely wicked caricatures. The Contemporary Art section, occupying a relatively small area, also displays works by the Catalan artists Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. In future the stock of this section is to be moved to the Casa de la Caritat.

In all the museum provides a representative but fairly restrictive survey of Spanish art (especially Catalan) since about 1830 but is of interest more from the standpoint of art history and less in a general sense.

The Geology and Zoology Museums merged to form the current Museum of Natural Science. Exhibits are abundant in cave-dwelling beetles and vertebrates from the Iberian Peninsula. Other highlights include rocks, fossils, and minerals from the Vidal and Cervelló Collections.

Next to the Geological Museum stands the Palm House with its exotic flora.

The Arc de Triomf forms the main architectural feature of the spacious Passeig de Lluís Companys, which runs from the Parc de la Ciutadella in a northwesterly direction. It was erected as the prestigious main gateway for the World Exhibition of 1888 by Josep Vilaseca. The brickwork incorporates elements of Moorish style; the reliefs depict allegories of trade, industry, agriculture and art. It has recently been restored at a cost of 120 million pesetas.