Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León

{{Short description|Contemporary art museum in León, Spain}}

{{redirect|MUSAC|the Australian university sports centre|Macquarie University Sport and Aquatic Centre|the music brand|Muzak}}

{{coord|42|36|24|N|5|34|56|W|region:ES_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Infobox museum

|name= Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC)

|image = 00002Musac.JPG

|established = April 1, 2005{{cite news |title=At a New Museum in Spain, a Contemporary Inspiration Drawn From Stained Glass |date=May 29, 2005 |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01EFDC1239F93AA15756C0A9639C8B63&scp=1&sq=MUSAC&st=nyt | first=Lisa | last=Abend | accessdate=May 19, 2010}}

|location = 24 Avenida de los Reyes Leoneses,

León, Spain

|visitors = 500.000{{cite web |title=El Musac de León alcanza las 500.000 visitas desde su inauguración en abril de 2005 |date=June 1, 2008 |work=El Mundo |language=Spanish |url=http://medscape.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/06/01/castillayleon/1212340880.html}}

|director = Álvaro Rodríguez Fominaya

|website = [http://www.musac.es/ www.musac.es]

}}

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, better known as the MUSAC, is a contemporary art museum in the city of León, Spain.

Inaugurated in April 2005 by Felipe, Prince of Asturias, this cultural institution aims to be a "Museum of the Present", in the words of its curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, and thus only collects artworks from the latest generation of artists, between 1992 and 2012.{{cite news |title=In Eternal Spain, Architecture on the Edge |date=February 19, 2006 |work=The New York Times |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/travel/19journeys.html | first=Andrew | last=Ferren | accessdate=May 19, 2010}}{{cite web |title=Nace el MUSAC, primer museo del presente |date=April 2, 2005 |work=El País |language=Spanish |url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Nace/Musac/primer/museo/presente/elpepucul/20050402elpepicul_2/Tes}} The museum has won international prestige for its 21st-century collection and innovative programming, being labelled, for example, as "one of the most astonishingly bold museums to hit the Spanish cultural landscape in years" by The New York Times.{{cite news |title=Welcome to the Land of ‘Wow-Factor’ Museums |date=September 23, 2007 |work=The New York Times |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/travel/23artboom.html | first=Andrew | last=Ferren | accessdate=May 19, 2010}}

The MUSAC building is celebrated for its avant-garde architecture, and it has been awarded a number of prizes, such as the 2007 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (Mies van der Rohe award).{{cite web |title=Mies van der Rohe Award |year=2007 |work=The Fundació Mies van der Rohe |url=http://www.miesbcn.com/en/award.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319132250/http://www.miesbcn.com/en/award.html |archivedate=2009-03-19 }} Designed by the architectural studio of Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón (Mansilla+Tuñón Arquitectos), the multicolored panels that adorn the exterior of the museum resemble the stained-glass windows of a cathedral. The architects drew their inspiration for this work from the main rose window (called The Falconer) at the local 13th century Gothic cathedral, Santa María de León.

MUSAC has become a landmark for the city of León, and an emblem of the new 21st century Spanish architecture, as showcased in a 2006 exhibition at the MoMA of New York City (On-Site: New Architecture in Spain), which selected the MUSAC as one of the arquitectural projects that make Spain today "an international center for design innovation and excellence".{{cite web |title=On-Site: New Architecture in Spain |date=Feb–May 2006 |work=MoMA |url=http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2006/on_site.html}}