CosmoCaixa (Museu de la Ciència)
Teodor Roviralta 55
About
This spectacular Science Museum is an enlarged, much improved version of the 1980 original. Funded by a major bank (La Caixa) the Museu de la Ciència closed in 1998 and embarked on a 6-year overhaul. The result is the best, most high-tech, and certainly most hands-on, science museum in Europe. Like the original, El Museu de la Ciència occupies a moderniste building (originally a poorhouse) at the foot of Tibidabo, but with a daring underground extension and renovation of the original edifice, effectively quadrupling its exhibition space to 3,700 sq. m (39,826 sq. ft.). As well as the additional new bioresearch center, the permanent collection has been completely overhauled and through an imaginative combination of original material and multimedia takes the novice on a comprehensive tour of the scientific principles. The collection is divided into four categories: "Inert Material" deals with the Big Bang up to the first signs of life, "Living Material" to the birth of mankind, "Intelligent Materials" looks at the development of human intelligence, and "Civilized Materials" history and science from pioneers to the computer age. The biggest crowd pleaser is "The Flooded Forest," a living, breathing Amazonian rainforest inside the museum with over 100 species of animal and plant life. Kids come into close contact with animal life in the "Toca Toca" section, which has rats, frogs, spiders, and other fauna from diverse ecosystems, some which can be picked up and touched. There are a 3-D planetarium and the extraordinary "Geological Wall" that explains, through an interactive route, the history of the world from a geological perspective. All in all, the new Science Museum is a unique and highly entertaining window to the world of science.
