The Museum of the History of Barcelona, or MUHBA, is separated into more than a dozen sites around the city. Our interest was in learning about the oldest parts of Barcelona, and so we visited the MUHBA branch in the Barri Gotic, at the heart of Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella or Old City, in the Pla ça del Rei.
When you enter this museum/archaeological site, you begin at the lowest level, below the modern street, where remnants of Barcelona’s Roman origins still survive. Back then the city was called Barcino, and as can be surmised by the model of the city from back then, it was tiny. Some pieces of walls from that time still exist, and can be seen while walking around the Barri Gotic, but otherwise, if you want to see Barcino, you have to come to this museum.
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Recreation of Roman-era Barcelona or Barcino Map ![]()
Tower in Roman Wall Barcelona City Museum ![]()
Fragment of Roman-era Wall Decoration, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Roman-era Mosaic Floor, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Roman-era Wall Decoration Fragments, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Stone Fragments from Roman-era Barelona
It was during the Middle Ages that life in Barcelona started to expand beyond those original protective Roman walls. As you ascend to the higher floors of the museum, you get to see some of the treasures of Barcelona that survive from that Medieval period.
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16th Century Corbel with Representation of a Noblewoman ![]()
Fragment of Medieval Wall Decoration, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Medieval Headstone, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Quatrefoil in City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Representation of Illumniated Letter from Renaissance Manuscript, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Stone Capital in Barcelona City Museum ![]()
Romanesque Corbel, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Section of Eleventh Century Palau Comtal, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Stained Glass in the Barcelona City Museum ![]()
Replica of Medieval Rebec or Fiddle, City Museum of Barcelona ![]()
Missa de Barcelona Manuscript
As a musician, and one very interested in Early Music at that (i.e., Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque classical music), I was thrilled to see both a replica of a Rebec, and the manuscript for the Missa de Barcelona. There were headphones hooked up with some of the music for the latter playing in a loop – but what I found odd was that the music on the recording is from a different section of the mass from what is on display in the manuscript. Obviously, this display was set up by someone who was not a musician! Anyway, it was cool to see it.
There is so much to learn from this museum that it would be worth going back more than once to absorb all the information provided on the various placards along the route of the Roman and Medieval remnants. I think before I go back I will have to learn a little more about Barcelona’s history to have a bit more context from which to draw in interpreting what is in front of me. And who knows – maybe I will visit a few of the other branches of the city’s history museum complex.
The post MUHBA in Plaça del Rei covers from the Roman Era to the Middle Ages appeared first on The Dairy Free Traveler.