Exhibitions
The MNAC faces its last exhibition stage before the expansion, with only four exhibitions
The works will force the museum's rooms to be progressively closed, while a reduced programming maintains cultural activity until 2030.
The MNAC begins its last exhibition stage until December 2029, the date on which, according to the management's official forecasts, the expansion that incorporates the Victoria Eugenia Palace into the Palau Nacional complex, located a few hundred meters from the main building, should be completed.
Although, as is usual in large architectural operations, the schedule could suffer deviations, the director, Pepe Serra, maintains the end of 2029 as the horizon for the closure of the works. In this scenario, the museum team has opted for a very contained schedule: only four exhibitions throughout 2026, designed to gradually reduce activity and close rooms as necessary. Once this phase is over, no temporary exhibitions are planned until 2030.
The first major exhibition will be dedicated to the Catalan sculptor known as the Master of Cabestany, under the title Sant Pere de Rodes and the Master of Cabestany: the construction of a myth . The exhibition vindicates one of the key figures of the Romanesque and his decisive role in the disappeared monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, in Girona. Curated by Manuel Antonio Castiñeiras, it can be visited from March 19 to June 29, 2026 and is structured as a journey of homage to one of the great names of Catalan Romanesque.
Throughout the year, the artist Ona Batlló will develop an audiovisual project that proposes a sound approach to the museum's Romanesque murals. On the other hand, between November 26, 2026 and March 28, 2027, the artist and poet Perejaume will curate an exhibition that offers his personal perspective on the architect and artist Josep Maria Jujol, a close collaborator of Gaudí and author of many of the mosaics in his projects, where the exuberance of Catalan nature emerges with intensity.
Completing the program Recovered from the Enemy , a review of the MNAC collections that, from February 19 to June 29, focuses on the works deposited by the National Art Heritage Defense Service (SDPAN), a Francoist organization created during the Civil War. Curated by Gemma Domènech i Casadevall and Eduard Caballé i Color, the exhibition continues the project Museum in Danger! and delves into the historical circumstances that marked the configuration of the museum's collection.
MNAC in progress
"By 2027, the first floor will almost certainly be closed," Serra said, a fact that will mean that a significant part of the rooms in the permanent collection cannot be visited until practically 2030. "We could have closed completely, as the Pompidou in Paris has done, but we have chosen to maintain a certain level of activity because, after all, we are a public service," he added.
However, it is planned to transfer part of the fund for a major exhibition in Tokyo in 2028, an operation that, according to Serra, "will generate income for us to help finance the works and allow us to position ourselves in a key city in the Asian art scene." In terms of costs, the winning project, signed by the architectural studios Harquitectes (Sabadell) and Christ & Gantenbein (Switzerland), will involve an estimated total investment of 122,336,886.40 euros.
“The reverse journey invites us to discover the light and listen to the soundscapes that today cross some of these churches”, Ona Batllò.
