I decided to cancel the conference today, which was only going to run until noon. I feasted on the hotel breakfast buffet, fortifying myself for a big day of walking. I first took about an hour's walk to Montjuic, which is a hill holding a park and many musea. First in line was the dominating Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, pictured below. At yesterday's banquet, the departing Jim Stewart forwarded his museum pass to me, and I put it to good work, starting here.
The highlight of this museum was its Romanesque interiors. Apparantly, several small ancient chapels in the countryside were falling into disrepair, so several years ago, the interiors were lifted and preserved in this museum. They are stunning! Many reminded me of the primitive church art you find in New Mexico. One is shown below.
Here is the most colorful, and best preserved I think.
There's many that have been placed back into their native configuration, as below.
I liked this vivid statue.
This work from the Renaissance has a bit of the pre-Raphaelite in it. I guess it was pre-Raphael!
This fine museum had many attractions, which kept me till about 1:00 PM. I then grabbed a quick ham sandwich (on great bread) and walked around the nearby Olympic grounds from the 1992 games. Shown below is some iconic sculpture from that event.
I then walked to the nearby Fundacio Joan Miro, which is basically an art museum dedicated to one of Barcelona's most famous sons, about whom I knew little before this trip. His art went through many stages, including a "big bird" stage, depicted below.
That photo was actually bootleg, as they were forbidden. From the comments made, it seems Miro was well loved, and he had an interesting talent. The museum was crowded, and Jim's freebie card saved me a twenty minute wait in line, as well as 5 Euros! Next, I walked through some lovely gardens to the Museo d' Arqueologia. It is across the street from the movie theater shown below. And it kind of looks like the movie theater, but not quite as good.
I had this museum to myself. It had some nice treats ranging from Neanderthal, to Cartheginian, to Greek, to Roman, to Visigoth. Here are some Roman bits.
I next went to the Pavello Mies van der Rohe after a short walk. This is a pavilion built by Mies (who did IIT in Chicago also) for the German contribution to the 1929 World Exposition. The fellow selling me the 4Euro ticket (Jim's card didn't work) donned a T-shirt saying "Less is More." Should have said "Less is Less." You can see the exhibit in two minutes, and its literally minimalist. Not large, and not much to see. At all. What's below is about it.
Disappointed, I crossed the street to the CaixaForum. Wow. This was good. And Jim's card saved me some more Eu. Could not take photos inside, unfortunately. The exterior is show below. The brickwork is awesome. I'm on the roof here.
Here's a self-portrait of JMP on the roof.
The building itself was a factory designed and built in 1911 by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Inside are several finely done art expositions. The best was probably a large selection of art from Madrid's El Prado museum. I spent a couple hours here, especially enjoying the masonry.
I next walked towards the old town, stopping along the way to see some Romanesque masonry embodied in Monastery of Sant Pau del Camp, whose interior is shown below.
I then took a short walk across La Rambla to La Catedral. Here are some seats in the retro-choir.
Here is a bit of the cloisters, which feature 13 geese.
And here is my workman-like dinner at a nearby pub: endive salad for starters, then three hearty pork chops, papas, grilled peppers, agua fria, and cerveza.
My dogs were tired, so I took the Metro back to my hotel.
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