Art garnered from the diocese of Barcelona has been pensioned off to the left of the cathedral in the Pia Almoina, the headquarters of one of Europe’s oldest charitable foundations, founded in 1009. The current building, incorporating part of a Roman tower and its prophylactic head of Medusa, dates from 1423, and has been restored to house this excellent but often overlooked museum with a nice café
Among the treasures are the striking Sienese-inspired Taula de Sant Jaume, by Arnau and Ferrer Bassa; a beautiful letter from the 'royal bureaucrat' Philip II, in Latin; a reliquary of Sant Cugat (1312); a tormented Crucifixion from the 13th century; and Romanesque frescoes of the Apocalypse from the apse of Sant Salvador de Polinyà (1122), a harrowing precursor of Picasso’s Guernica and a preview of the treasures in the Palau Nacional.
Images by amadalvarez, Enfo