CaixaForum Barcelona
{{Short description|Cultural center in Barcelona, Spain}}
{{coord|41|22|16.79|N|2|8|59.1|E|type:landmark_region:ES-CT|display=title}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = CaixaForum Barcelona
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = CaixaForum - Casa Ramona.jpg
| caption =
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| established = {{start date|2002|02|df=y}}
| dissolved =
| location = Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8 08038 Barcelona
| type = Cultural center
| collection =
| visitors = 782,529 (2011){{cite web|title=El CaixaForum rep 782.529 visitants|url=http://www.diaridegirona.cat/cultura/2012/01/04/caixaforum-rep-782529-visitants/540094.html|work=Diari de Girona|accessdate=27 February 2012|location=Barcelona|language=Catalan|date=4 January 2012}}
| owner = Fundación ”la Caixa”
| director =
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| publictransit = Plaça d'Espanya {{rint|barcelona|metro}} {{rint|catalonia|FGC}}
| car_park =
| network =
| website = {{URL|caixaforum.org/es/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". 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.
The building
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.{{cite web|title=The Building|url=http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/english/caixaforumbarcelona/thebuilding_en.html|work=CaixaForum Barcelona|publisher="la Caixa"|accessdate=26 February 2012}}
Called the "Casaramona factory", it was completed in 1911, and the same year won the City Council's award for best industrial building. 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. It was opened as a cultural center in February 2002.{{cite web|title=Caixaforum: Pleasant, interesting and free of charge!|url=http://www.barcelonatourguides.com/eng/mus/caixaforumbarcelona.htm|work=Barcelona tour guides|accessdate=26 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226085134/http://www.barcelonatourguides.com/eng/mus/caixaforumbarcelona.htm|archive-date=26 February 2012|url-status=dead}} The building was restored prior to its opening,{{cite book|title= Museus i Centres de Patrimoni Cultural a Catalunya |location=Barcelona|edition=1st|first= Julie|last= Flanagan|publisher= Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya |year=2001|isbn=84-393-5437-1|page=19|language=Catalan}} 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 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.Emma Daly (September 15, 2002), [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/15/travel/glorious-recycling-barcelona-art-in-an-old-mill-and-gaudi-by-bus.html Glorious Recycling: Barcelona; Art in an old mill and Gaudí by bus] The New York Times.
Gallery
File:CaixaForum Barcelona- entrance.JPG|Main entrance, designed by Arata Isozaki
File:CaixaForum Barcelona- passadís interior.JPG|Interior courtyard, showing distinctive window shapes and brickwork
File:CaixaForum Barcelona - maqueta.JPG|A model of the building
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{La Caixa}}
{{Barcelona landmarks}}
{{Authority control}}