Museu Blau: the Barcelona natural science museum

youBelieve it or not, there is more to life than Gaudí! And if you’re coming to Barcelona with kids who love natural science, then a trip to the Museu Blau is obligatory.

The remarkable building of the natural science museum

The Museu Blau is set in a unique building that is one of the city’s most striking. Built by architects Herzog & Meuron in 2004, it is unusual as it is constructed in the shape of a triangle. The materials used create numerous reflections between the building and its environment, with some very surprising results.

• The museum’s triangular structure is very interesting but it sometimes makes orientation a little difficult. There is no route to follow when visiting the museum but there are many spaces that you can cross in different ways.

• Remember to take note of various points to orient yourself during your visit or else you could quickly end up getting confused and not knowing which direction to head in.

Planeta vida, Museu Blau’s permanent exhibition

Museu Blau’s permanent exhibition, entitled “Planeta vida” (planet life) presents the Earth as the result of interaction between living beings and the Earth’s atmosphere.

The rivers, mountains and oceans are intimately linked to organisms living on the planet and form a global ecosystem that regulates the Earth. To explain this phenomenon, the exhibition is divided into two parts:

• The Earth’s biography: a voyage through the planet’s evolution from its birth through all the subsequent eras up to the Cenozoic.
• The earth today: this part explains the nature of the Earth and everything we find there (fossils, animals, plants, algae, fungi, bacteria, rocks, minerals…)
• Science islands: Mini exhibitions dealing with evolution, the classification of species, the Mediterranean and even animal behaviour.

• Information is available in Catalan, Spanish and English although the great number of fossils, rocks, skeletons or animal reproductions don’t need a huge amount of explanation.

Museu Blau, an interactive museum

During my visit to Museu Blau, it was clear that the groups of children between11 and 14 who were there were absolutely in their element. The museum makes a great effort to appeal to them.

Their favourite is obviously the interactive experiences: touch screens, magnifying glasses, multimedia devices, touchable models, audiovisual screenings…there is plenty to do.

Useful information