Barcelona Guide
Montjuïc
Caixa Forum
Address: Avinguda del Marquès de Comillas
Opening time: Mon– Fri & Sun 10am–8pm, Sat 10am–10pm
Price: free
Telephone: 934 768 600
Website: www.fundacio.lacaixa.es
The Caixa Forum is a terrific arts and cultural centre set within the old Casamarona textile factory. Constructed in 1911 in the modernist style of Josep Puig i Cadafalch, the factory shut down in 1920 and lay abandoned until pressed into service as a police building after the Civil War. The subsequent renovation and expansion has produced a remarkable building, entered beneath twin iron-and-glass canopies representing spreading trees. You descend into a palatial white marble foyer (with a vibrant mural and a good arts bookshop), beyond which are the exhibition halls, fashioned within the former factory buildings.
The external structure has been left untouched, so original girders, pillars and stanchions, factory brickwork and crenellated walls appear at every turn – look for the sign to the "terrats" where you can ascend to the undulating roof for unique views. The Casamarona tower, etched in blue and yellow tiling, rises high above the walls, as readily recognizable as the huge Miró starfish logos emblazoned across the building.
The centre houses the foundation's celebrated contemporary artcollection, focusing on the period from the 1980s to the present, with hundreds of artists represented, from Antoni Abad to Rachel Whiteread. Works are shown in partial rotation, along with an excellent free programme of changing exhibitions across all aspects of the arts – recent exhibitions have highlighted subjects as diverse as Etruscan funerary sculpture and the films of Charlie Chaplin. There's also a library and resource centre, the Mediateca multimedia space, regular children's activities and a 400-seat auditorium with a full calendar of music, art, poetry and literary events. The café is worth knowing about, too – an airy converted space within the old factory walls, serving breakfast, sandwiches, snacks and lunch.