Protected by the most magical mountains in Catalonia, in an area created by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, you can see one of the most important artistic and archaeological collections in Catalonia. The Montserrat Museum shows more than 1,300 pieces that have a long timeline: from an Egyptian sarcophagus from the 22nd century BC to a painting of Sean Scully from 2010. The permanent exhibit has big names in the history of art.

The archaeology section has its origins in the so-called Biblical Museum, created in the year 1911, by the monk Bonaventura Ubach, who in his trips to the Near East managed to gather archaeological materials of great importance. Currently you can see pieces from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Xyprus, Italy and the Hellenic World, the Low Empire and Paleo-Christian culture.

The collection of old paintings (13th and 18th centuries) consists in about 250 works, which were in large part acquired in the beginning of the 20th century. The museum exhibits a collection that includes artists such as Berruguete, El Greco, Jan Brueghel de Velours, Frans Francken and, in a special place, Caravaggio. Sant Jeroni Penitent is the only work by the Italian Baroque artist that can be seen in Catalonia.

The largest section of the museum is from the 19th and 20th century. It is worth it to focus on the collection of Catalan paintings, one of the best in the country, with pieces by Fortuny, Martí Alsina, Vayreda, Rusiñol, Nonell, Mir, Picasso, Torres-Garcia and Dalí, among others. Jove decadent. Després del ball, from Casas, awaits visitors stretched out on a comfortable green sofa. You can also see a small collection of paintings from great masters of French Impressionism (Degas, Sisley, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro), unique to Catalonia.

Unique too is the Nigra sum display, gathering artistic and traditional materials to explain the iconographic evolution of the image of the Montserrat Virgin. Or the exhibit of icons from the Slavic Byzantine churches Phos Hilaron (‘joyous light’).