Description of the attraction
The Frederic Mares Museum was opened in 1948 in one of the buildings belonging to the Grand Royal Palace complex, which is located in the center of Barcelona, in the Gothic Quarter. Earlier, for many years, this building housed a nunnery. Initially, the museum occupied four rooms. By the 70s of the 20th century, the collection of the museum had greatly increased, and it had significantly expanded to its present size.
The initiator of the creation of the museum and its founder is the collector and sculptor Frederic Mares, who collected various objects throughout his long life. His collection served as the basis for the museum's collection. The most significant museum exposition is the collection of sculptures, which presents mainly the work of the masters of Catalonia, as well as other regions of Spain. Moreover, the collection is divided into 6 sections in accordance with time periods: sculptures of the antique period, represented by the cultures of Ancient Greece, Ancient Iberia, Carthage, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Catalan sculptures of the 19th century.
The museum also displays exhibitions of paintings by artists, mostly depicting the Mother of God with the Child or the Holy Family, as well as crucifixes and crosses.
There are also unusually interesting expositions that make up the so-called Sentimental Museum - these are household items. Here you can find collections of pipes, fans, cigar labels, coins, combs, theater posters, binoculars, lottery tickets and even children's toys from different years. It is not known how many of these items were of interest to the collector Mares at one time, but it is always surprising, interesting and touching to consider them, realizing that they once belonged to someone and, perhaps, had some special value for this person.
