Oliva Artés, one of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona’s venues, invites visitors to discover the city’s industrial, social and urban transformation through a permanent exhibition and a show dedicated to 125 years of architecture awards.
Barcelona cannot be understood without its industrial history. In the heart of Poblenou, one of the neighbourhoods that best embodies this transformation, Oliva Artés, a venue of the Museu d’Història de Barcelona, offers a journey through the city’s evolution, from the beginnings of industrialisation to the major challenges of the 21st century.
The venue occupies a former factory workshop built in 1920, which was used for decades to manufacture and repair machinery. Today, this restored building has become a museum-laboratory dedicated to the history, legacy and heritage of contemporary Barcelona, combining historical research with citizen participation through collaboration with local organisations and neighbourhood associations.
The Oliva Artés centre is home to the permanent exhibition ‘Interrogar Barcelona. De la industrialització al segle XXI’, which explores the city’s development from the 18th century to the present day. The exhibition addresses issues such as work, demographics, immigration, social conflict, industrial development and the transformation of the urban landscape, offering a wide-ranging perspective on the changes that have shaped Barcelona as we know it today.
The visit can be complemented by the temporary exhibition ‘Arquitectura premiada. 125 anys de premis d’arquitectura’, open until 29 September. Through photographs, documents and audiovisual materials, the exhibition traces the history of the Premis FAD d’Arquitectura i Interiorisme and their predecessors, the Premis Ciutat de Barcelona d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, showing how architecture has helped transform the city over more than a century. Presented as part of Barcelona 2026, Capital Mundial de l’Arquitectura, the exhibition also invites visitors to reflect on the future of cities and the role architecture plays in their evolution.