The Palau Nacional is an imposing building that was erected on the occasion of the 1929 International Exhibition, which was held on the flank of a hill called Montjuïc. The sprawling structure now houses the National Art Museum of Catalonia.

The National Palau of Montjuïc was constructed between 1926 and 1929, with the goal to be the main building of the International Exhibition of Barcelona of 1929, for an Exhibition of Spanish Art (The Arte in España), with more than 5.000 works coming from throughout Spain.

The building is a work of Eugenio Cendoya and Enric Catà, under the supervision of Pere Domènech i Roura, rejecting an initial project of Puig i Cadafalch and Guillem Busquets. It shows a symmetrical main façade, with a central body which stands out and two lateral ones; the central body is crowned all the set of the façade by a dome of roman, dominant style and accompanies itself to the sides of two smaller domes. The four angles of the big Hall are compound for some towers of square plant that integrate into the composition of the façade exterior.

The work has an area of 32.000 m² and is from classicist style, inspired in the Spanish Renaissance. It has a rectangular floor with two lateral bodies and one of posterior square, with a big dome on the part central. The waterfalls and fountains of the outside staircase of the Palau would be a work of Carles Buïgas. In the same period nine big projectors that today still issue some intense bundles of light that write the name of the city in the sky were placed.

The esplanade at the Palau Nacional offers some of the city's best views. The museum is surrounded by a number of other attractions such as the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, the Magic Fountain and a handful of other museums including the Fundació Joan Miró, where you can see works of art created by the native Surrealist artist Joan Miró.

The Palau Nacional was the flagship of the 1929 Exhibition, drawing lots of attention from the crowds that descended upon the Catalan region for the event. It was originally designed by the Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadalfach, but dictator Primo de Rivera intervened and took the modernist architect off the project. A new design was created by architects Enric Català and Pedro Cendoya in a more 'nationalist' style.

The result is a pompous neo-baroque building with a central dome surrounded by a number of towers. The magnificent Oval Hall was renovated in 1992 and opened in time for the summer Olympics, held in Barcelona that year. The rest of the building was renovated at the beginning of the 21st century by architects Gae Aulenti and Josep Benedito.

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya or MNAC in short is the largest museum in Catalonia. It is also the most important center for Romanesque Art in the world, though visitors will find exciting pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries and the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque Periods as well.

Some of the most important works of art in the museum are a number of frescoes from the 12th and 13th century. Many of these were taken from old churches in the Pyrenees and reassembled at the museum. Another interesting work of art is a 12th century baldakin.

Examples of fine Gothic art include many works by Jaume Huguet, the primary artist in the Catalan Gothic School. Later works on display at the Palau Nacional include pieces by artists like Goya, El Greco, and Peter Paul Rubens.

Guests are also treated to some stunning decorative art from the 19th and 20th centuries, including furniture and chandeliers, many indicative of Barcelona's favored "modernista" movement, known in other locales as Art Nouveau.

The museum is divided into sections:
Romanesque art: This collection contains mainly Catalan art from the 11th-13th centuries (with some works pre-dating this period). The most significant part of this collection are the internationally important wall-paintings of Romanesque churches and chapels around Catalonia that have been transferred to the museum, including the fragmentary remains of the cycle by English artists from Sigena, and sculptures like the Batllo Crucifix.

Gothic art: Catalan art from the 13th-15th centuries, along with some Italian art.
Renaissance and Baroque art: Spanish, Italian and Flemish art from the 16th-18th centuries. The collection was started with the local art and augmented mostly through donations, specially that of the Francesc Cambó collection.

Modern art: Catalan art from the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, including photography and the decorative arts. Notable are the works of Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, Isidre Nonell, Pau Gargallo and the modernist decorative arts of Antoni Gaudí. Picasso's Woman in Hat and Fur Collar can be found in this section, too.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: A collection of works deposited by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. It includes pieces from the Renaissance and Baroque. It also includes a collection of Catalan art belonging to the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, from the mid-19th century to the second half of the 20th century.

Department of Drawings and Prints: collection of drawings, prints and posters from the last 17th century to the historical avant-gardes.

Photography collection: Photographs from the 19th century to mid-1990s.

Numismatics collection: Coins, medals and paper money from VI BC to the present day. Outstanding is the collection of pieces from Catalonia and the neighbouring territories.

The Palau Nacional is situated in a unique setting: Montjuïc, the mountain of museums, leisure and sport, well on the way to becoming an area of culture and life. The institutions you will find spread around the Park, of renowned international prestige, make Montjuïc the museum centre par excellence in Barcelona, with a diverse, complete offer. As well as the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, you can visit the Fundació Joan Miró, the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, the Museu Etnològic and CaixaForum, among others. With the impressive sculptures, classical statues, wide terraces covered with urns and the sheer elegance of the building itself, the National Palace of Montjuïc – even if you don’t include the glories of the paintings in MNAC – is a palace worthy of comparison with any of those in other European countries. When you add its imposing setting and dramatic surroundings, though, it becomes a very special place indeed. The nearest Metro station to the Palau Nacional is at Plaça Espanya (Lines 1,3) and it is possible to walk from there along Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina towards Montjuïc, but there is also an escalator that can take you straight to the top. Also, bus numbers 50 and 55 stop close to the building. You can get there via direct flight to Barcelona or to Girona, Reus or Lleida –Alguaire.