The Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí (its local name in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

; also known in es, Museo Barbier-Mueller de Arte Precolombino, and in en, Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Art Museum) was the only

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

in Europe devoted exclusively to the artistic legacy of the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

cultures of

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. It was located in the

capital of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The museum was established in 1997 to house the

pre-Columbian art Pre-Columbian art refers to the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European conquests starting in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era c ...

collection formerly held by its parent museum, the

Barbier-Mueller Museum The Barbier-Mueller Museum, founded in 1977, is located at 10 rue Jean-Calvin, in Geneva, Switzerland. Its collection contains over 7,000 pieces and includes works of art from Tribal and Classical antiquity as well as sculptures, fabrics and orna ...

Genève , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland, which was loaned to the city of Barcelona. In 2012, the museum was unable to reach a purchase agreement with the collection's owner Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. Subsequently, the world's most important Pre-Columbian collection in private hands (according to El País) was split and auctioned at Southeby's on 22 March 2013.

References

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External links

Catalog of the pieces sold at auction at Sotheby's in March 2013 which formerly constituted the museum's collection
Barbier-Mueller Museum of Barcelona
Barbier-Mueller Museums collective website
Friends of the Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Art Museum
details of exhibitions, publications, lectures and visitor information
Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí collection
notes on cultures represented with photos and information on selected art objects
Museu Barbier-Mueller d’Art Precolombí in Barcelona
(deutsch) Museums in Barcelona Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombi Art museums established in 1997 Mesoamerican art museums Pre-Columbian art museums Art museums and galleries in Catalonia Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombi Archaeological museums in Catalonia {{Spain-art-display-stub