Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC)

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya fills the Palau Nacional, the domed building put up for the 1929 International Exhibition at the top of the long avenue that climbs Montjuïc from Plaça d'Espanya. The museum has been housed here since 1934, and after a long renovation it was officially inaugurated in its present form in 2004. Its collection covers a thousand years of art in Catalonia.

The Romanesque galleries are the reason many people come. In the early 20th century, wall paintings were removed from small churches in the Pyrenees to protect them, and here they are reassembled in spaces that echo the apses they came from. The Christ in Majesty from Sant Climent de Taüll is the best known. The Gothic galleries follow, with altarpieces and painted panels, and the modern collection takes in Catalan Modernisme and Noucentisme, with paintings by Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol and furniture and decorative art from the Modernista period.

General admission covers the building, the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions and the rooftop viewpoint, and is valid on two days within a month, so you can split a visit. A cheaper basic ticket gives access to the building and the rooftop. Entry is free every Saturday from 3pm and on the first Sunday of the month, with advance online booking recommended. Articket BCN is valid here.

In the winter season, from October to April, the museum opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and on Sundays and public holidays from 10am to 3pm; from May to September it stays open until 8pm from Tuesday to Saturday. It is closed on Mondays except public holidays. Ticket offices close half an hour before the museum.

Allow at least two to three hours. The terraces in front of the palace look straight down over the Magic Fountain and Plaça d'Espanya towards Tibidabo, and they are one of the best free viewpoints in the city at sunset. To get there, take metro lines L1 or L3 to Espanya and walk up the avenue, using the outdoor escalators for much of the climb. The Fundació Joan Miró, the Poble Espanyol and the gardens of Montjuïc are all within walking distance, so it is easy to make a full day of the hill.