Museum Night 2022
Museum Night returns to normal with a special glow to it: yours. The event is on Saturday, 14 May, from seven in the evening to one in the morning, around 75 facilities and spaces in eight municipalities in the metropolitan area: Barcelona, Badalona, Cornellà, Esplugues, L’Hospitalet, Sant Adrià, Sant Joan Despí and Santa Coloma. There are an additional nine exhibition spaces this year: the Porta de Mar and the Temple d’ August (MUHBA), the Jardí Botànic del Museu de Ciències Naturals, the Museu de la Xocolata, the FC Barcelona museum, the Opisso, the Palau Robert, the Santa Mònica and the Torre de la Miranda, in Cornellà de Llobregat.
As in previous editions of Museum Night, temporary exhibitions and permanent collections at participating centres can be visited free of charge. You can also enjoy various programmed activities, such as workshops, clue trails and escape games, competitions, concerts and shows.
Find out about all the facilities and activities planned on the Museum Night website.
The Espai Mercè Sala takes us to 1922: the Tilling-Stevens exhibition
The TMB exhibition hall, located at Diagonal station (L3-L5), presents “Tilling-Stevens, 1922: The oldest bus on the Barcelona network”. This exhibition explains how the mobility of Barcelona changed when the Compañía General de Autobuses (CGA) acquired the Tilling-Stevens TS3A and launched four lines that started the bus network in the city.
The exhibition forms part of the activities for this year's Centenary of the Bus Network.
More information about the Espai Mercè Sala.
Barcelona classic bus exhibition 2023
Once again, the TMB Foundation, the Sagalés company and the Bus Recovery and Conservation Association (ARCA) are organising an exhibition that will bring together around thirty historical buses. The display is being organised for 3 June, in Avinguda Maria Cristina, next to Plaça d’ Espanya in Barcelona.
This is a unique opportunity to see vehicles that represent over a hundred years of public transport in Catalonia and enjoy fun activities for children and young people.
The buses taking part in the exhibition include some of the finest vehicles from the TMB Foundation’s historical heritage, such as the Tilling-Stevens, the model that launched the Barcelona network in 1922; the North American Dodge 265, manufactured in 1936; the Chausson 59, from 1955; the ACLO 410 double-decker; the MAN SD 200 series 2000-2012 bus, restored for the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Bus Turístic, and the MAN NL 202 gardener, an original example of converting a standard car. The show is completed by a Pegaso 3036, a Pegaso 6420, a Pegaso 5139 and the 4224 minibus (Mercedes-Benz Sprinter).
This year, the ARCA and Sagalés will be displaying their most iconic vehicles, such as the Hispano Suiza of 1909 and the 1929 Ford AA, belonging to Sagalés, or the Pegaso 6035A and 5064 belonging to the ARCA.
You can find more information about the TMB Foundation historical vehicles on Vehicle collection section.
As with previous editions, these classic vehicles will be accompanied by buses with the latest technology recently added to the TMB fleet, notable for low emissions or the total absence of pollutant emissions.
Activities of the day
In addition to the visit to the buses, as is usual, there will be a space dedicated to younger children with different workshops relating to the world of buses, with the participation of TMB Education, the TMB educational project. Little ones can test their skills with the giant puzzle and enjoy an explanation of the history of this means of transport in Barcelona, with the dramatisation of As is now usual, there will be a space dedicated to younger children with different workshops relating to the world of buses, with the participation of TMB Education, the TMB educational project. Little ones can test their skills with the giant puzzle and enjoy an explanation of the history of this means of transport in Barcelona, with the dramatisation of La petita història del bus providing an infant-friendly version of the history of the bus, while the film bus 100 anys de bus offers an account of a century of buses for all visitors. All activities are free and open to everyone. See you there! La petita història del bus providing an infant-friendly version of the history of the bus, while the film bus 100 anys de bus offers an account of a century of buses for all visitors.
All activities are free and open to everyone. See you there!
Painting Murals for Peace at Diagonal station
The TMB Foundation is collaborating with Justícia i Pau (CA) in the first Murals per la Pau (Murals for Peace) competition held from the 13 February to 10 April as part of the second edition of Peace Week - Arcadi Oliveres. Also collaborating on this initiative are the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) and the Taller d’Art, Cultura i Creació (TACC).
This collaboration between Justícia i Pau and the TMB Foundation unites the desire to turn transit spaces, such as metro platforms, into spaces for advocacy and awareness-raising that transform perspectives.
The topics of the works presented revolve around themes such as the culture of peace, anti-racism, feminism, environmentalism, global justice, interculturalism, the social and solidarity economy and disarmament. It was a prerequisite that all the works had to have hope as the central element, which serve as the common thread running through this second edition of Peace Week - Arcadi Oliveres.
Replicas of the three winning works were painted on the nights of 25 and 26 April in three spaces located on the platform at Diagonal metro station (L3), with the aim of challenging the public and inviting them to rethink the world we need. The prizes will be awarded on 4 May, coinciding with the start of Peace Week.
This initiative aims to keep alive the legacy of Arcadi Oliveres and his commitment to peace, human rights and global justice, and to vindicate art as a vehicle for social transformation and as a tool for expressing hope.
There will be a fourth honorary mural painted by the artist Bernat Oliveres, Arcadi Oliveres' son.
Museum Night 2023
One night a year, museums rebel, leaving their doors wide open and refusing to sleep, hoping that lots of people will come in to say hello, comment on them, and be surprised by everything they hold in their exhibition halls. And not only that, they also arrange lots of activities - concerts, guided tours, theatrical performances, workshops and games. Young and old alike are invited to the great celebration that is Museum Night: six hours of Culture with a capital 'C', from seven in the evening until one in the morning, with a wide range of options to enjoy on a spring night.
In Barcelona and the neighbouring towns of Badalona, Cornellà, Esplugues, Hospitalet, Sant Adrià, Sant Joan Despí and Santa Coloma, we are fortunate to have many museum spaces of different types and with different themes. On Museum Night, this diversity is particularly striking, and it will be very easy for you to find a museum where you can spend the evening, an exhibition you are sure to like, or an activity you’ll enjoy.
More info about The Museum Night (CA).
The Espai Mercè Sala is opening untill 1 a.m. and it's located at the Diagonal metro station.
Entrance is free once the necessary transport ticket required to access the metro facilities has been validated.
Presenting the exhibition Picasso i Catalunya una empremta indeleble
The Espai Mercè Sala is once again taking part in another edition of Museum Night.
Until 2 June, as part of the Parlem Picasso, programme commemorating the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and the 50th anniversary of the artist's death, the Espai Mercè Sala, in collaboration with Fundació Museu Picasso, will be hosting the exhibition Picasso i Catalunya una empremta indeleble, a journey through the experiences and landscapes in Barcelona and Catalonia that were important to him; a tour of the places that became part of his personal and emotional identity.
Exhibition Picasso i Catalunya, una empremta indeleble
As part of the Parlem Picasso programme, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, the TMB Foundation will be hosting a journey through the experiences and landscapes in Barcelona and Catalonia that were important to him in collaboration with the Fundació Museu Picasso. The exhibition takes the visitor on a tour of the Malaga artist's love affair with Barcelona, as well as with Horta de Sant Joan, Gósol and Cadaqués.
The exhibition will be open from 11 May to 2 June at the Espai Mercè Sala, located on the concourse between lines 5 and 3 at the Diagonal metro station. Entrance is free of charge, after validating your transport ticket.
Picasso in Barcelona and Catalunya
In 1895, Pablo Picasso arrived in Barcelona with his family and spent much of his childhood and youth in the city. It was where he attended classes at the Escola de Bellas Arts Llotja, where he first went to school, published his first illustration, produced his first engraving and his first sculpture, and had his first individual exhibition. He was also to make lifelong friends there. Nine years later, in 1904, he left for Paris, only returning to Barcelona occasionally, for example in 1917, when he spent six months in the city.
There are two other dates that stand out in terms of Picasso’s connexion with Barcelona. The first is 1963, when the Museu Picasso opened its doors in Carrer de Montcada at the artist's own request, and thanks to the determination of his personal secretary and great friend, Jaume Sabartés, and his wife Jacqueline Picasso, as well as admirers and friends, especially the Gaspar and Gili families, members of Barcelona’s civil society, and Barcelona City Council.
The second key date for the Picasso Museum and for Barcelona was 1970, the year in which Picasso decided to donate all the works that until then had been in the custody of his relatives at their home on Pg. de Gràcia, to the city of Barcelona.
Exhibition Designed for all at the Espai Mercè Sala
In December 2022, some stations in the metro network began using armrests for the first time. This was a pilot test for a project developed by TMB, together with the Barcelona Design Centre and Elisava who provided expertise.
These elements make benches on platforms more accessible for people with functional diversity or reduced mobility.
With the aim of publicising this co-creation project and explaining the process, the Barcelona Design Centre and Elisava have co-produced a travelling exhibit that was on display at the DHUB (Barcelona Design Hub) in December and January, and is now going to be on show at the Espai Mercè Sala. In spring, the exhibit will move the Elisava facilities.
It focuses on the concept of the design of an arm rest for all, using cradle to cradle circular design criteria.
More info about Espai Mercè Sala. Free entrance.
We work with waste products
The armrests are in line with the universal ergonomic prototype, and are made from stainless steel tubing from decommissioned buses. This material is resistant to wear and tear, is anti-graffiti and does not transmit electric shocks.
The armrests are rounded, as this is more comfortable for the user, and the surface is textured to make them easier to grip. The design has been created with the ergonomics of the user's hand in mind, and the prototypes are located on the benches that are aligned with the doors corresponding to the carriages for users with reduced mobility.
Industrial processes involved in manufacture has been minimised to make it more sustainable and to guarantee the smallest possible ecological footprint.
Have you taken part in the pilot test? We need your opinion!
You can try out the armrests and use them at Universitat and La Sagrera stations on L1. Download the QR codes located near where the armrests have been installed, and let us know what you think.
Your experience will help us to reassess the prototypes before they are manufactured and installed throughout the metro network.
At these stations you will also find the new ischiatic seats, another of our accessibility initiatives, also undergoing a pilot test period.
Get more info about this pilot test.
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Image of one of the armrest models installed in the metro.
Photography exhibition On vas? Somnis en via morta
The TMB Foundation, together with the Institute of Inequalities (CA), present the exhibition On vas? Somnis en via morta, a photographic compilation based on the work of Roger Grasas, which presents the reality of migrant women.
This exhibition, which focuses on the gender perspective, culture and origin, is being held as part of International Migrant Day on the 20th of June.
The aim of this initiative is to document and give visibility, with a gender perspective, to the problem of human rights violations in the context of migration, both in relation to the migrants and their families and groups.
We invite you to take a look at and reflect on the complicated situations, departures and returns of migrants, putting women at the centre of this journey, based on different testimonies from the global South.
You will find the large format vinyl prints of the works in the link corridor between metro L5 and the FGC, in Diagonal station. Admission is free of charge, after validating your transport ticket.
