The courtyard and its glass wall
The old almshouse courtyard with a tilted glass facade that mirrors the Raval rooftops, and you can see it without a ticket.
Fred Romero — CC BY 2.0 · Fred Romero — CC BY 2.0 · Pere López Brosa — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jorge Franganillo — CC BY 2.0
Usually not. On a three or four day trip the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and the Picasso Museum come first. Come here if the current exhibition genuinely interests you, or if this is a repeat visit and you want something outside the usual Gaudi circuit.
The nearest Metro is Universitat on lines L1 and L2, then about a five minute walk into the Raval. Catalunya on L1 and L3 also works, and the centre is a few minutes from La Rambla and La Boqueria. The narrow streets around it get crowded, so keep an eye on your bag and phone.
Not usually. The exhibitions are text and video heavy and aimed at adults. For families with young children, CosmoCaixa or the Barcelona Aquarium is a far better use of the afternoon.
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This is not a museum in the usual sense. CCCB has no permanent collection to come back for; it runs a programme of large temporary exhibitions about cities, society and ideas that changes several times a year. So the question is never whether the centre is good, but what is on the week you visit. It occupies a converted almshouse in the Raval. The original courtyard was kept and a tilted glass wall added along one side, reflecting the rooftops of the old quarter, and it is the most striking thing to look at here. Courtyard and bookshop can usually be entered without a ticket; you pay only for the exhibitions. MACBA, the contemporary art museum, is its immediate neighbour, and the difference matters. MACBA shows artworks; CCCB shows arguments, built from text, documents and video rather than paintings. If your trip to Barcelona is short, the Picasso Museum or MNAC has a stronger claim on your time. It is a few minutes on foot from La Rambla and La Boqueria, and the nearest Metro is Universitat on lines L1 and L2. Check before buying whether the current show has English texts.
The old almshouse courtyard with a tilted glass facade that mirrors the Raval rooftops, and you can see it without a ticket.
Themes such as the city, memory, technology and the environment, presented through documents, photographs and video more than artworks.
Alongside the exhibitions there are film screenings, talks and festivals through the year, some of them ticketed separately.
Carrer de Montalegre 5, El Raval, 08001 Barcelona