Barcelona Museu de les Arts Aplicades (Disseny Hub Barcelona)

In 2008, the Museu Tèxtil, Museu de les Arts Aplicades, previously located in the Born, joined the ceramic and decorative arts museums in the Palau Reial de Pedralbes, built in the 1920s and briefly used as a royal palace. The Textile Museum, Museu de les Arts Aplicades, provides a chronological tour of clothing and fashion, from its oldest piece, a man's Coptic tunic from a seventh-century tomb, through to Karl Lagerfeld. Among many curiosities in the Museu de les Arts Aplicades, such as an 18th-century bridal gown in black figured silk and the world's largest collection of kidskin gloves, the real highlight is the fashion collection - from Baroque to 20th-century - one of the finest of its type anywhere.

The Museum of Decorative Arts is informative and fun, and looks at the different styles informing the design of artefacts in Europe since the Middle Ages, from Romanesque to art deco and beyond. A second section is devoted to post-war Catalan design of objects as diverse as urinals and man-sized inflatable pens.

The Ceramics Museum is equally fascinating, showing how Moorish ceramic techniques from the 13th century were developed after the Reconquista with the addition of colours (especially blue and yellow) in centres such as Manises (in Valencia) and Barcelona. Upstairs is a section dedicated to 20th-century ceramics, with a room devoted to Miró and Picasso. The three museums, along with several smaller collections, are to be merged into a Museu de Disseny (Design Museum).

Address
Palau Reial de Pedralbes,

Avda Diagonal 686

Area Beyond the Centre

Transport Metro Palau Reial .

Telephone 93 280 16 21
Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sat; 10am-3pm Sun.
Admission €3.50; €2 reductions. Combined admission with temporary exhibition €5; €3 reductions; free under-16s. Free 1st Sun of mth.