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Museu de la Ciència CosmoCaixa with Indoor Rain Forest

Child friendly science museum located in a vast modern space with 1909 Façade by architect Josep Doménech i Estapà. European Museum of the Year 2006

Updated: Jul 19, 2023 by: Barcelona Travel Hacks Views: 1.4k

About CosmoCaixa Science Museum

Barcelona Museu de la Ciència CosmoCaixa, like Museo de Ciències Naturales, Forum is one of several science museums in Barcelona. CosmoCaixa covers physics, geology, biology and astrology. The museum is know as one of the best and most technological science museum in Europe. CosmoCaixa is not run by Barcelona City Council but is owned and run by the Spanish banking giant La Caixa.

CosmoCaixa Science Museum History

The historic part of the building in which the museum is located was built between 1904 and 1909 by the architect Josep Doménech i Estapà, and was initially used as housing for blind girls. It's a beautiful work of modernist architecture, with its simple red bricks and the wonderful, decorative mosaics.

In 1979, the building was expanded, and opened to the public in 1981 as a science museum called Caixa. In the following years, further extensions became necessary, until the museum had to be completely re-designed. The new part of the building, made of glass and built as two basement floors, was created by the architects Esteve and Robert Terradas costing 100 million euros.

The current CosmoCaixa museum opened in September 2004 with a total exhibition space of 50,000 square metres and was named European Museum of the Year in 2006.