41°22′16.79″N 2°8′59.1″E / 41.3713306°N 2.149750°E
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Established | February 2002 |
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Location | Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8 08038 Barcelona |
Type | Cultural center |
Visitors | 782,529 (2011) [1] |
Owner | Fundación ” la Caixa” |
Public transit access | Plaça d'Espanya station |
Website | Caixa Forum Barcelona |
CaixaForum Barcelona is a cultural center in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Located in the Montjuïc area in a former Modernist textile factory designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, it is owned by the not-for-profit banking foundation " la Caixa". [2] After a restoration of the building, the art center opened its doors in 2002 and since then it hosts temporary art exhibitions and cultural events. [3]
The building was originally commissioned as a textile factory by Casimir Casaramona i Puigcercós, and built by the famous Catalan Modernism architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. [2] Called the "Casaramona factory", it was completed in 1911, and the same year won the City Council's award for best industrial building. [2] The factory closed in 1919, but reopened as a warehouse for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
In 1940, the building was used as a cavalry barracks for the Spanish Armed Police Corps, and it was used as such until " la Caixa" banking foundation bought it in 1963. [2] It was opened as a cultural center in February 2002. [3] The building was restored prior to its opening, [4] 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. [2]
The center, 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. [5]