If you have the opportunity to visit Barcelona, set aside a little time to visit the Museu Blau in the Forum Building. The second you enter those doors, you’ll understand why it’s a place well worth exploring.
The Museu Blau is home of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. Encased in a structure designed by Herzog & de Meuron for the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures are 4,500 items from the Museum’s heritage collection which have all been brought together in a genuinely stunning testament to natural history.
The interior lighting is dimmed and spotlights starkly illuminate the exhibits. The effect ensures that your attention is immediately directed at the material rather than the building or other visitors. Placards and other didactics serve as understated accompaniments to the material rather than flashy eye-catchers.
All of the focus is brought onto the specimens and it is an elegant, distilled approach to curation reminiscent of the 19th-century cabinets of curiosity. Rather than bombard you with graphics, audiovisual displays, or elaborate dioramas, the museum allows the specimens to speak for themselves. They capture the visitor’s curiosity and allow questions to arise organically. Furthermore, if you visit during a weekday, crowds are small enough to allow you to enjoy the specimens in a way that makes it feel like you’re in your own personal museum.
I will definitely be back! For more information, please check-out the Museum’s website.
Hi Mark!
I love this post! Specially your particular vision, focused on the museography and what distinguishes this museum from others like this.
Thanks for sharing!
Cristina
Hi Cristina,
Thanks so much for the feedback! Museography/museology is a topic that I’ve become increasingly more interested in over the years and I hope to write more pieces like this 🙂