After two decades of planning, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) has officially unveiled a landmark expansion project. This plan will connect its main building on Montjuïc with the adjacent Palau Victòria Eugènia. The €113 million transformation, set for completion in 2029, will create a unified museum campus linked by a covered public walkway, significantly expanding its capacity to display the full narrative of Catalan art.

Officials presented the long-awaited plans on Tuesday at an event attended by top officials. These included the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Salvador Illa; Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun; and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. This project culminates a vision to fully realise the museum’s mission, previously hampered by insufficient space. “To arrive here today is already a huge collective success,” said museum director Pepe Serra, describing the expansion as both “legitimate and necessary.” He emphasised that the new space would finally allow the museum to fulfil its primary purpose: “to permanently display Catalonia’s artistic creation throughout its history to the present day.”

A ‘Museum Passage’ to Bridge Two Palaces

Designed by the Sabadell-based studio Harquitectes in collaboration with the Swiss firm Christ & Gantenbein, the winning proposal is titled Passatge del museu (Museum Passage). The plan involves completely rehabilitating the Palau Victòria Eugènia, reorganising spaces within the current Palau Nacional, and constructing a striking new connection between them.

This connecting structure is envisioned as more than a simple corridor; it will function as a covered public boulevard, fully accessible and capable of hosting independent uses such as an auditorium or community spaces. The design aims to open the museum to the city, with a new main entrance at the Palau Victòria Eugènia designed to, in the words of architect Josep Ricart, “inhale the public square and introduce it inside the museum.”

The connection will begin as a perimeter passage alongside the pavilion, then transition into an underground section linking to the Palau Nacional’s current temporary exhibition area. According to the competition jury, this subterranean path will feature “generous spaces, occasional external views, natural light, and a combination of stairs, escalators, and lifts.”

A Major Leap in Scale and Scope

The expansion will have a transformative impact on the museum’s scale. The total built area will increase by 45%, from 49,000 to 71,417 square metres. Crucially, exhibition space will grow by a remarkable 77.5%, from 10,941 to 19,425 square metres. This will allow MNAC to exhibit a vast portion of its collection, which currently remains in storage, including modern and contemporary works.

The project’s total estimated cost is €112.7 million. Funding is a collaborative effort from three public administrations:

  • The Generalitat de Catalunya will cover 50% (€56.3 million).
  • The Spanish Ministry of Culture will contribute 30% (€33.8 million).
  • The Barcelona City Council will fund the remaining 20% (€22.5 million).

The renovated Palau Victòria Eugènia will house a new welcome hall, an auditorium, a café, a restaurant with separate access, a museum shop, and new divisible exhibition galleries for both temporary shows and the permanent collection.

The ‘Poetics of Perseverance’

The project’s final unveiling marks the end of a long, challenging road. The announcement, postponed several times due to unsuccessful legal challenges against the winning design, was hailed as a victory for persistence by the museum’s leadership. Joan Oliveras, President of MNAC, noted that the museum has worked towards this goal for twenty years, likening the journey to the “poetics of perseverance.”

This expansion is a key development for Montjuïc‘s cultural landscape, a hill rich with cultural institutions. The inauguration is symbolically timed to coincide with the centenary of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, the event that originally shaped the mountain and gave birth to the Palau Nacional. By 2029, the expanded MNAC aims to stand as a renewed and fully realised home for Catalan art, capable of telling its complete story from Romanesque masterpieces of artists once dubbed the ’12th-century Picasso’ to the most contemporary creations.

“This finally makes the museum’s main mission a reality… to make the great public container of Catalan art from all eras permanently available to everyone and in the best possible conditions.”– Pepe Serra, Director of MNAC

With works scheduled to begin in 2028, the project promises to redefine not just the museum but also its relationship with Barcelona, creating a more integrated, accessible, and comprehensive cultural landmark for the 21st century.