Montjuïc mountain is getting ready to be completely renovated for the centenary of the 1929 International Exposition. The remodeling of the fairgrounds will be the main pillar of its transformation, with the updating of its palaces and the construction of public housing and public facilities. Very close by, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) will also face its expansion, planned for the Victòria Eugènia pavilion, which will increase its exhibition area from 9,000 square meters to 19,500.
Both projects are underway and progressing. A few weeks after Fira de Barcelona announced the 15 finalist architecture studios for the renovation of its palaces, the MNAC announced this Monday that the first phase of the architecture competition has concluded with the selection of a total of 30 proposals. They were chosen from among the 65 firms that submitted to the architectural competition called in mid-July, coming from nine different countries. The budget for the architectural preliminary project is 1.08 million euros.
From among the 30 proposals, the MNAC will soon select the five finalists, with the expectation that they will start working in December. In this second phase, which will be remunerated, the selected firms will have time to present the final project until spring of next year, in line with the Fira de Barcelona competition. It will be then when the winner will be announced.
No further details are known about the projects that have passed the first phase of the architectural competition because the rules establish that the candidacies will be anonymous until the final resolution.
A single museum with two buildings
The expansion of the MNAC will allow the rehabilitation of the Victòria Eugènia pavilion, a work by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, but will also serve to reorganize spaces in the museum's current headquarters. According to the MNAC, the result will be a single museum with two perfectly connected buildings and will represent the culmination of the great art museum of Catalonia conceived by Joaquim Folch Torres in 1934, the year of its foundation.
With the more than 10,000 square meters of exhibition space that will be gained, artists from the second half of the 20th century will be comprehensively accommodated for the first time, and the collection of photography and popular arts such as comics and illustration will be able to be displayed. The activities of the educational and social area of the MNAC will also be strengthened.