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The politician and writer Victor Balaguer, as a man of the Catalan Renaixença, was convinced that culture was the basis for the people’s progress. For this reason, in 1884, he commissioned the first public building in the country intended to function both as a museum and a library, to be built at Vilanova i la Geltrú, and in which to make his art, book and ethnographic collections available to the public.

Currently, the Museum has a collection of more than 8,000 items that include an archaeological and ethnographic collection donated by some illustrious friends of Víctor Balaguer. The highlight being the mummy of a child from ancient Egypt, popularly known as Nesi.

As regards to the art exhibits, part of the original collection can be seen in the Pinacoteca (art gallery) room which recreates the atmosphere of the Fine Arts salons of the 19th century. Pictures by Marià Fortuny, Ramon Martí Alsina, Joaquim Vayreda and Joaquin Sorolla show the bourgeois tastes of the time. Complementing this room are the works by El Greco, Ribera, and Rubens, donated at the beginning by the Prado Museum.

The tour continues through Modernisme, Post-modernisme and Noucentisme with small-format works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Anglada Camarasa, Francesc Domingo and Xavier Nogués. It also has the most comprehensive collection of informalist art in Catalonia that comes from the first Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.

As for the bibliographic collection, it is one of the richest of the 19th century in Catalonia, with more than 50,000 books and a total of 100,000 documents. Among these are the collected letters of Víctor Balaguer.

Nature and Modernisme. This is the pairing that defines the Colònia Güell. Standing among the pine trees is an architectural complex that still preserves the industrial essence of the late 19th and early 20th century and has a star name: Antoni Gaudí.

The colony was built in 1890 on land owned by Eusebi Güell at Santa Coloma de Cervello. The entrepreneur wanted to move the textile industries he owned at Vapor Vell Sants away from labour conflicts that were prevalent in Barcelona at that time.

The complex was structured around the factory, which was equipped with the most advanced technology of the time. As well as the homes of the workers, there were educational, cultural and religious facilities which together formed a "small town".

In addition, Eusebi Güell, a patron of Modernisme in Barcelona, made it unique by hiring some of the best architects of the time. His friend Antoni Gaudí led the project, taking charge of the mapping out the complex and of the Church, of which only the crypt was built (declared a World Heritage Site in 2005). The remainder of the buildings (the school, the cooperative, the parish house and the cultural centre, among others) were the work of Joan Rubió, Francesc Berenguer i Mestres and his son Francesc Berenguer i Bellvehí.

The complex made a display of innovations in construction at the time such as the use of 'trencadís' (mosaics of ceramic shards), iron work and brick. Special attention should be given to the facades of the teacher's house, Ca l’Espinal and Ca l’Ordal, which show that, despite being functional architecture, no detail was overlooked.

In the old district of Sant Joan de Sitges stands the architectural and artistic complex of Maricel, one of the most monumental examples of Noucentisme in Catalonia. It was built by Miquel Utrillo between 1910 and 1918, and had been commissioned by the American magnate Charles Deering, who established his residence here and used it to house his unique collection of Hispanic art.

After going through various uses, in 1970, art came back to the building. On the side facing the sea, the Maricel Museum was opened to display the art collection of Dr Jesús Pérez-Rosales: more than 3,000 Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque pieces, as well as pre-Columbian archaeology artefacts, oriental art, musical instruments, textiles and folk craft.

Today this collection is integrated into the Sitges Art Collection, along with other acquisitions, creating a complete and varied tour through the history of art, from the 10th century to the first half of the 20th century.

Particularly notable are the rooms dedicated to Romanticism (Marià Fortuny), to Noucentisme (Joaquim Sunyer, Pere Jou, Lola Anglada, Enric Casanovas, Ismael Smith, Pau Gargallo) and especially to Modernisme (Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Josep Llimona), which has a close connection to Sitges. There is even a room displaying paintings that once decorated the Cau Ferrat Brewery.

One can’t leave the Museum without going through the Sert Room, with its large murals from 1915 dedicated to the First World War.

To study, preserve and disseminate the history of the city; the Museu d’Història de Barcelona (Museum of the History of Barcelona - MUHBA) provides an explanatory showcase of the city through an extensive collection and various outstanding heritage areas. The Museum brings together cultural material that explains the past and the present and this translates into a rich and heterogeneous collection that continues to grow. The MUHBA is a mirror on the many faces of the city: an important historic centre, a new modernista city and a diverse complex of old towns and newly created districts.

The monumental complex of Plaça del Rei has been the foundational core of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona since it was created in 1943. In the ground beneath the Casa Padellàs you can see an important part of ancient Barcino; the visit allows you to stroll through the streets of Roman Barcelona, get close to the walls from the time, enter a laundry from the 2nd century AD, see the remains of the first Christian community of the city, etc. The complex is completed with important medieval buildings such as the Palau Reial Major (Royal Palace) and the Tinell salon. But in addition to these landmarks, the headquarters of MUHBA has a permanent exhibition, displaying pieces about the ancient municipal government, the guilds and brotherhoods of Barcelona, the cotton industry, festive and popular imagery of the city, nineteenth-century Barcelona and the urban reforms.

Over the years, this historic centre has expanded considerably and now includes up to 15 heritage spaces spread around the city. Notable is the Temple of Augustus, the Roman Sepulchral Way, the Call, Park Güell, Santa Caterina, the Turó de la Rovira and Fabra i Coats, among others.

Contemporary art in Barcelona is MACBA. The Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona stands at the heart of the Catalan capital in a Richard Meier building that is itself a work of art. It is located in touching distance of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), an reference point for lovers of 20th and 21st century art and culture.

MACBA, which was started in 1995, has established itself internationally as a model in contemporary art. Its collection of 5,500 works, allows a journey to be traced through the main artistic references of today. Beginning with materic abstraction from the 1950s, incorporating works of the European pop art and of the avant-garde of the 1960s and '70s. There are also works around the photographic figurative representation and minimalist sculpture.

Among the most important pieces you can see: Dins el roig, by Albert Ràfols-Casamada; Between the Frames: The Forum, by Antoni Muntadas; La saison des pluies II, by Miquel Barceló; Rinzen, by Antoni Tàpies; Beschwingte Bindungen, by Paul Klee; Thames Circles, by Richard Long, and Atomic Kiss, by Joan Rabascall, among others.

The MHC is a museum designed to stimulate interest in the evolution of Catalan culture. In the Palau de Mar, one of the few conserved buildings of the old port of Barcelona, visitors follow a thought-provoking story that is divided into eight stages, starting in prehistoric times and finishing in the present day to, and taken from a social, economic, political and cultural point of view.

During the tour, you will find objects and documents, historical recreations and audiovisual and interactive scenes, which in an entertaining way, illustrate the history of this nation.

The visitor even gets the opportunity to climb onto the horse of a Lord in the war of the Middles Ages and hide in a trench of the Civil War.

The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) is organised around its 6 regional centres (Barcelona, CASC, Empúries, Girona, Olèrdola and Ullastret). Of them all, Barcelona is the centre that offers a more cross-cutting view because it explains the social, technological, economic, and religious developments from early man up to the middle ages in Catalonia and the Mediterranean.

Located in the former Pavelló d'Arts Gràfiques, (Graphic Arts Pavilion), built for the 1929 Universal Exposition of Barcelona, the MAC Barcelona renovated 11 rooms between 2010 and 2013. The permanent exhibition, consisting of more than one million original pieces, takes the visitor on a journey through pre-history, protohistory, the Greek and Phoenician colonisation and the establishment of the Roman Empire.

To accompany the visitor, there are learning resources, pictures, scenery and also audiovisual pieces such as the funeral rituals of prehistoric times compared with those of today.

One of the most emblematic pieces of the museum is the statue of the Roman God Aesculapius, now a reproduction because the original was moved to the Empúries centre in 2008. Other notable exhibits include the Paleolithic materials, the 53,200 year-old Neanderthal jaw from Sitges, the Iberian treasure of Tivissa, the Phoenician votive figures, Greek ceramics and the Roman statue found in the street Carrer Paradís, and considered to be the highest quality sculpture recovered from ancient Barcino, the Roman name for Barcelona.

Empúries is the only archaeological site in the Iberian Peninsula where the remains of a Greek city Empòrion coexist with those from the Roman city, Emporiae. It is also the gateway to the classical culture: Ten centuries of history that transformed, forever, the ancient Iberian peoples that inhabited it.

The first settlement of the Greeks was in the 6th century BCE on a small island off the coast of the Gulf of Roses (Palaia Polis, ancient city), and then moved to the mainland to establish what was known as the Neàpolis, the new city. In 218 BCE, the port of Empúries was used as an entry point to the peninsula for the Roman troops in their fight against the Carthaginian army. Between the 6th century BCE and the 5th century AD, Empúries has been a port, a commercial enclave, a western colony of Greece, the first Roman encampment on the peninsula, a prosperous Roman city...

The current Greek ruins belong to the city from the Hellenistic period. During the visit there we would find the precincts Asclepius and Serapis, the small industry which produced canned fish and sauces, the Agorá or public square and the remains of the floor of a banqueting room with an inscription in Greek.

Notable from the Roman period is the Domus 1 with the mosaics that decorated the ground, the Insula 30 (area occupied by the city’s public baths), the Forum, the remains of the Basilica and the Curia and the tabernae or shops.

Half way along the route you can visit the Museum of the Empúries excavations which houses the exceptional original sculpture of Asclepius found at the site.

It is therefore a privileged space for understanding the evolution of the Greek and Roman urban development and is a turning point in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. Currently it is one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archaeological Museum of Catalonia).

Olèrdola has known the presence of man from the Bronze Age until well into the 20th century. This fact shows the strategic importance of a settlement located on the hill of Sant Miquel, which overlooks the Penedès plain. Olèrdola is currently one of the sites of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Catalonia Archaeology Museum) and is part of the Iberian Route.

Its position made Olèrdola an ideal place in times of war but barely habitable during periods of peace. For this reason, the site also has known long periods of abandonment.

The population have left their mark. There is an Iberianoppidum, a fortified and walled village. There is also an impressive Roman fortification to control the territory and, in particular, the access road to Tarraco (the old name for Tarragona). Finally, within the group is a medieval town, with Romanesque and Pre-Romanesque churches (Sant Miquel and Santa Maria), the castle and anthropomorphic tombs dug out of the rock.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the decline of Olèrdola and the displacement of the population in the plain began.

Currently preserved are the remains of the Castle, the Church of Sant Miquel, a Romanesque building, and the Necropolis of Sant Miquel, an excellent display of the characteristic burials from the High Middle Ages.

Perched in the Puig de Sant Andreu, in the Baix Empordà, the Iberian town of Ullastret is the largest Iberian settlement discovered so far in Catalonia. The city, flanked by towering walls, served as the capital of all the indiketa territory, which exploited agriculture, livestock farming, mines and quarries. It was the centre of an important commercial interchange with the Greek city of Empúries, which exported its products and also imported foreign production. Ullastret dominates the landscape of the Empordà and has been testimony to one of the most important archaeological finds of recent years: that of the severed heads of Ullastret.

This exceptional discovery was made in the year 2012, when the excavations in a stretch of the street uncovered 15 human cranial fragments, among which were two embedded heads. It is a ritual of Celtic origin which had already been described by classical authors such as Posidonius of Apamea or Diodorus of Sicily, and which consisted of displaying the heads of the defeated enemy as trophies of war.

Although the Ullastret complex consists of two Iberian villages, it is only the ruins of Puig de Sant Andreu, which are visitable, corresponding to the last stage of occupation of the town by the indiketes (3rd century BC). The route allows you to view the largest and oldest muralla ibèrica in Catalonia, reinforced with six circular towers.

Visitors can ‘enter’ the rectangular houses, from the most modest up to the constructions made for the most important families of the Iber aristocracy, walk down the cobbled street and discovered the water collection system using cisterns in the rock, a copy of those still existing in the Greek colony in Empúries. The spiritual life of the ancient inhabitants of Ullastret has left its mark with the remains of three temples, from the 4th and the 3rd century BC. The complex is completed with the Ullastret Monographic Museum, which allows interpretation of the site and also to find out about the Iberian culture in the north-east of Catalonia. The Ullastret complex is one of the branches of the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia.