Museo de Historia de Barcelona

Museo de Historia de Barcelona (the Museu d'Història de Barcelona, or MUHBA) tells the story of the city from Roman times to the present day. Its main headquarters stands on Plaça del Rei, right in the heart of the Barri Gòtic, Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.

What exactly is this museum?

Rather than a single building with a fixed exhibition, MUHBA is a network of historic sites spread across the city, all managed under one institution. The location on Plaça del Rei acts as the main entrance and landmark, but the real substance of the museum lies beneath the streets and inside buildings scattered through different parts of Barcelona. The museum collects, studies and displays traces of the past — from the foundations of the ancient city to medieval remains and twentieth-century sites.

What can visitors see beneath Plaça del Rei?

Underneath the square and its surroundings lie the remains of the Roman city the Romans called Barcino. Visitors walk past fragments of walls, streets and urban installations that are roughly two thousand years old — one of the best-preserved sets of Roman remains in this part of Europe. Moving through the underground passages beneath today's buildings, you effectively descend to the level of the ancient street surface.

Which medieval sites belong to the museum network?

MUHBA's network also preserves reminders of medieval Barcelona. Among them is the former Jewish quarter, known as the Call, where elements of Jewish community life survive from before the expulsion in the fifteenth century, and the Palau Reial Major, a medieval royal palace that once served as a residence for the rulers of Aragon and Barcelona. Tradition holds that it was within its halls that Christopher Columbus was received after his first voyage to the Americas.

What about more recent history?

The museum's story does not stop in the Middle Ages. Its structure also includes sites tied to the city's industrial past — former factories and workers' facilities — as well as locations connected to the work of Antoni Gaudí and to the Spanish Civil War, including air-raid shelters built by residents during the bombing of Barcelona in the 1930s. This range lets MUHBA present the city as a living organism that kept changing, rather than a set of exhibits frozen in a single era.

Where exactly is it and how do you get there?

The museum's main site sits on Plaça del Rei, in the Barri Gòtic, a few minutes' walk from Barcelona Cathedral and from the Jaume I metro station on line L4. The location is fully pedestrian — driving is impractical given the narrow streets of the old town — so it's best combined with a stroll through the surrounding lanes of the Gothic Quarter.

How much time should you set aside?

The underground section at Plaça del Rei typically takes between 45 minutes and an hour and a half, depending on pace and group size. If the plan includes other sites in the network — such as the Palau Reial Major or the remains of the Call — it's worth setting aside a full morning or afternoon, since the locations are spread out and require moving between different parts of the city.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a separate ticket for every site? The MUHBA network covers several locations, and ticketing rules vary by site — some require a separate entry, while others are included under a combined ticket. It's worth checking current arrangements before visiting.

Are the Roman remains accessible for visitors with reduced mobility? Given their nature, the underground sections of the exhibition can present limitations — uneven surfaces and steps are typical of archaeological sites of this kind.

Is it worth visiting without knowing Spanish or Catalan? Yes. Information materials at most of the network's sites are also available in English, and the remains themselves — walls, foundations, spatial layout — communicate a great deal regardless of language.

Can the Palau Reial Major be visited together with the Roman section in one trip? Both sites sit close to each other on and around Plaça del Rei, so it's easy to combine a visit to both in a single outing.