CaixaForum Barcelona

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CaixaForum Barcelona is an art gallery in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is sponsored by Barcelona bank "la Caixa", and opened in 2002 in a former factory. CaixaForum is located in the Montjuïc area, on Avinguda de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia. The museum houses art exhibits.

Video CaixaForum Barcelona

The building

The building was originally commissioned as a textile factory by Casimir Casaramona i Puigcercós, and built by the famous Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Called the "Casaramona factory", it was completed in 1911, and the same year won the City Council's award for best industrial building. It closed in 1918, but reopened as a warehouse in 1929. In 1940 the building was used by the Spanish National Police Force, and it was used as such until "la Caixa" bought it in 1963. It was opened as a museum in February 2002. The building was restored prior to its opening, and a new entrance was built, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, in a process that included firing 100,000 bricks to match the original ones. The museum, which opened in spring 2002, has almost three acres of exhibition space, a media library, auditorium, classrooms and a restaurant. Visitors descend by escalator to the basement lobby, adorned by a Sol LeWitt mural, then rise again to the exhibition spaces on the ground floor, within the crenelated brickwork.