(Almost) clear path to the Thyssen

The chamfer of Paseo de Gracia with Gran Via is closer to seeing the new Museu Carmen Thyssen emerge. The project has taken another step, within an administrative process in which it has made a decisive advance. It was in the City Council plenary session, which gave the green light to urbanistic changes for the Palau Marcet to be reconverted to house the future Thyssen museum. Now, only one more step remains in the administrative process to reconfigure what was the Comedia: the definitive approval by the Urban Planning Subcommission of Barcelona of the Generalitat.

"It is a great source of pride to see how, slowly, this personal project in which I have placed so much enthusiasm and effort is advancing. It is an idea I have had for years and the moment when the museum can open its doors is getting closer," highlighted Carmen Thyssen. "It will be the day when everyone can enjoy a unique collection that has taken me so much time and dedication to gather," especially Catalan art and, particularly, Modernism: "It will, at the same time, allow this collection to coexist with innovative local proposals and high-level international exhibitions, fusing art in all its expression."

This unique collection will inhabit a future facility that is already beginning to take shape, through the urbanistic modification in process. With it, the architectural intervention will have to respect the heritage value of the building. The old Comedia will reconfigure its spaces and, as the most visible element, will gain a new volume on the current roof of the building, with temporary exhibition halls, a terrace, and a restaurant. Inside the building, there will be not only exhibition halls, but also an auditorium and a shop and bookstore space.

With a project by the architecture firm OUA and the studio Casper Mueller Kneer, this new structure will become characteristic of the chamfer, although it has been designed to go unnoticed and to blend with the sky and the surroundings. The intention is to keep the current facade of the palace as the protagonist, which will be restored with the original colors. From OUA, they have applauded this new step towards the materialization of the museum, although there is still a long way to go: "There is still a lot of work to do, and many details to finish outlining and agreeing upon among everyone. The most important thing is that the project to end up having a Carmen Thyssen Museum in Barcelona continues."

"We trust that it will become a building that most Barcelona residents will be proud of in the future," proclaimed Casper Mueller Kneer after the City Council's approval. In the plenary session, the Culture Councilor, Xavier Marcé, highlighted the importance for Barcelona to have a museum like the Thyssen. The approved modification affects the Metropolitan General Plan and the Special Plan for the Protection of Architectural Heritage, after overcoming the allegations phase initiated following the initial approval in July 2025.

While administrative processing advances, the Thyssen does not wait idly. The future museum has already begun to dialogue with the city, through a small exhibition space visible from Paseo de Gracia. In it, several of the old cinema seats are exhibited, in which young artists from various design schools in the city intervened, as a first declaration of intentions that bets on emerging Barcelona talent.

The project thus continues to advance step by step. As Jaume Sabater from Stoneweg, the fund owner of the building, has highlighted, the future museum aspires to become "a new element in Barcelona's powerful cultural ecosystem." Furthermore, "it represents a unique opportunity to enrich and densify the city's cultural landscape, to help in our measure to consolidate Barcelona and Catalonia as an international benchmark in art and culture," added the director of Stoneweg's cultural division, Joan Manuel Sevillano. Thus, in a long process, the future museum advances with its sights set on 2028, and with the declared will to become an essential piece within the city's cultural map, and beyond.