The Archaeology Museum of Catalonia ( ca, Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, MAC) is an

archaeological museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as ...

with five venues that exposes the most important archaeological collection of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, focusing on

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

times and

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

. The museum was originally founded in 1932 by the Republican

Government of Catalonia The Executive Council of Catalonia ( ca, Consell Executiu) or the Executive Government of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It is responsible for the political action, regulation, and administratio ...

. The modern institution was created under the Museums of Catalonia Act in 1990 by the Ministry of Culture of the same Government. The head office is located in the former Palace of Graphic Arts, which was built on the

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Etymology Montjuïc translates to "Jewish Mountain" from medieval Latin and Catalan, and remains of a medieval Jewish cemetery have been found there. Some sources suggest that Montjuïc ...

hill for the

1929 Barcelona International Exposition The 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (also 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition, or Expo 1929, officially in Spanish: ''Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929'' was the second World Fair to be held in Barcelona, the first one being i ...

. The pavilion was initially to be dismantled once the event was over, but it was conserved and refitted by the architect Josep Gudiol before the museum opened its doors in 1932.

Venues

The museum is composed by a group of five museum venues archaeological sites in several places of Catalonia:

1. MAC Barcelona

Officially, Museu d'Arqueologia de Barcelona i Institut de Prehistòria i Arqueologia. The museum was designed by Pelagi Martínez i Patricio, covers an area of 4,000 m and is structured into five chronological spaces: prehistory;

protohistory Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

, the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

n colonisations; the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

; and, finally, the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...

, marking the start of the medieval period. Some of the main attractions are the Greek statue of

Asclepius Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represen ...

from the 3rd century BCE which was discovered in Empúries, the Iberian Treasure of

Tivissa Tivissa is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ribera d'Ebre, Catalonia, Spain. It is located below the La Llena massif. As well as the village of Tivissa itself, the municipality also includes the village of La Serra d'Almos, at the feet of t ...

and the

votive crown A votive crown is a votive offering in the form of a crown, normally in precious metals and often adorned with jewels. Especially in the Early Middle Ages, they are of a special form, designed to be suspended by chains at an altar, shrine or im ...

from the Treasure of Torredonjimeno.

2. The Greco-Roman city of Empúries

The village of

Sant Martí d'Empúries Sant Martí d'Empúries is an entity of the town of L'Escala. It is located next to the ruins of Empúries or Empòrion. Ancient Greeks established the settlement in the 6th century BC. It was the county seat until 1079 Empúries moved to Caste ...

is on a small isthmus that has been settled since the 9th century BCE, when it was inhabited by

Indigetes The Indigetes (Latin: ''indigetes'' or ''indigetae'' or ''Indiketes'') were an ancient Iberian (Pre-Roman) people of the eastern side of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania). They are believed to have spoken the Iberian language. They occu ...

. The town itself was built around the 6th century BCE by Greek colonists and was later occupied by the Romans during the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three ye ...

. Archaeological recovery of the site began in 1908 and 25% of the site has been excavated. In addition to the outdoor exhibits, many of the artifacts discovered here can be seen in the museum on the site.

3. MAC Girona

Founded in 1846 as the "Provincial Museum of Antiquities and Fine Arts", making it one of the oldest museums in Catalonia. It was relocated on several occasions until it arrived at its current location in the Benedictine monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants in 1857. It became a part of MAC in 1992.

4. The monuments of Olèrdola

The settlement at Olèrdola was continuously inhabited from the 8th century BCE to the time of the

Reconquista The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...

. The site includes an Iron Age fortified nucleus, an Iberian settlement, a Roman fortification and a medieval town with Romanesque and pre-Romanesque churches and medieval tombs cut into the rock. It was opened to the public in November 1971 and became part of the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia in 1995.

5. The Iberian settlement of Ullastret

Located in the

Baix Empordà Baix Empordà in Catalan (; en, Lower Empordà, italic=yes) or Bajo Ampurdán in Spanish () is a ''comarca'' (county) in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is one of the two ''comarca'' into which Empordà was divided in the comarcal ...

, the Iberian town of Ullastret is the largest Iberian settlement discovered so far in Catalonia, with a history stretching back to the 5th Century B.C. Excavations started in 1948 and continue to this day. Visitors can walk around the ruined walls and cobbled streets of the village, as well as visit the Ullastret Monographic Museum, which is also part of the complex.

The Submarine Archaeology Centre of Catalonia

Officially, ''Centre d'Arqueologia Subaquàtica de Catalunya'' (CASC) in Girona. Created in 1992 to protect underwater archeological sites and part of MAC since 1996, the centre's mission is to take inventory, protect, conserve, and study underwater heritage sites in Catalonia. In addition to its own projects, CASC provides support for external archeological teams.

References

External links

* (in Catalan) {{Authority control Archaeological museums in Catalonia 1932 establishments in Catalonia Museums established in 1932