The institution is a national model for its art collection from the baroque period. The government declares as museum of national interest, the museums that, for its importance and the value of the cultural heritage that they collected, for the general or specific characteristics of its collections of because the interest of its heritage goes further its own frame, and had a special significance for the Catalan cultural heritage.
The Government of la Generalitat de Catalunya had decided to declare museum of national interest the Museu del Barroc de Catalunya de Manresa for its importance, signification and high cultural value of its collection of the Catalan cultural heritage.
For the Catalan Government, the Museum is a heritage institution that has to be a national model for its collection of artworks from the baroque period in the country, putting it at the service of the discursive necessities of other museological institutions. In addition, it has to be ready to accept deposits that could help in the documentation and preservation of this works.
The institution goes further the local frame, for the history and path that links with the cultural history of the country, and for its collections. The museum’s purpose and is to be the central place of the programs dedicated to the global preservation of the baroque period, in agreement with the Territories Barroc’s program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. At the same time, it also promotes the itinerary to highlight the important elements of the catalan baroque heritage.
The Museu del Barroc de Catalunya is a public institution, manage by the Manresa’s City Counsil, that acquires, studies and spreads the material testimonies of the city’s culture and its territory, specialy in art and history subjects. The institution has a history of more than 120 years, with different locations and names.
At these moments the exhibition is formed of collections of the Museu de Manresa, artworks from the National Collection of the Generalitat de Catalunya, from the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, and other museums and institutions of the country.
It is formed by singular and important collections of Catalan art. A collection that nowadays has around 12.000 inventoried works, material testimonies of the art and culture of the city, and with a special attention in the region. It also has a lot of works and collections of national interest, with an important archaeological, historical and artistic area.
The Museu del barroc de Catalunya gets together an important ensemble of baroque artworks in its collection, and more than 180 works in the exhibition. Highlights the carvings, gilded and polycarbonate from the XVII and XVIII, made by the workshops of Manresa and authors and great relevance in the Catalan artistic scene like Grau, Sunyer, Padró, Rubió, Generes, Vidal, Quer, Sors and others; just like important painters as Francesc Pla “el Viguatà”, Josep Bernat Flaugier or Antoni Viladomat. All of them configures a chronological continuity and a narrative relate that show the artistic evolution of Catalonia from the first half of the XVII to the last XVIII.
In the last years, the government had promoted the acquisition of artworks from this period through the National Collection to acquire cultural works, that had to be placed in the museum. From 2022 12 works had been acquired for an approximate value of 60.000 €.
Between 2021-2024 it had taken place the reform and the new museographic project of the Museu de Manresa-Museu del Barroc de Catalunya in the ancient Sant Ignasi School, a combined initiative of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Manresa’s City Council to create a museum adapted to the society of the XXI century.
The museographical reform counted with 616.240,00 euros from the Generalitat and 399.033,00 euros from the City Council. Culture had also supported the improvement and acquisition of the reserves of the Museum through a subvention of concurrence of 244.323,00 euros the year 2023 and of 384.000 euros the year 2024.
The Museum is part of the Xarxa de Museus d’Art de Catalunya (XMAX), the members of which work together to configure a country’s discourse taking the collections they preserve as a basis. Is because of that that the Museu de Manresa-Museu del Barroc de Catalunya, as a member of this net, had received in deposit more or less 30 works of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya’s collection (the model museum of the net).
