CosmoCaixa Barcelona () is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

located in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain. It features a variety of permanent and temporary exhibitions devoted to the environment, nature, science, and space. The museum is sponsored by "

La Caixa La Caixa (), also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation (), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Spain, with its headquarters in Barcelona since March 2025. Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: I ...

" banking foundation. Formerly known as the Science Museum of Barcelona, it closed for renovations in 1998 and reopened in 2004 under its current name. It has interactive exhibitions such as

touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

and

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

for small children,

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

, bookstore, gift shop, library, teaching center and café. Entry to the museum is free for students under sixteen. Adults too can enjoy at the museum with an entry ticket of six euros.

Building

The building was built between 1904 and 1909 by Josep Domènech i Estapà to serve as an asylum for the blind which closed in 1979. The building was renovated, retaining the original facade, and an expansion took place bringing the building to four times its original size. An expansion of the building took place in 2004. CosmoCaixa has a large spiral walkway that takes visitors from the basement to the fifth floor. The centerpiece of the walkway is an Amazonian tree.

Exhibitions

CosmoCaixa has permanent and temporary exhibitions. It also houses a

and has a free

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

that allows the public to experience natural science through interactive exhibitions. Entry tickets to the

Planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

are four euros for both adults and students. Tickets can also be bought at the museum on the first floor.

Flooded Forest

A flooded forest which allows visitors to experience wet and dry environs of an

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

Ceiba ''Ceiba'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to Tropics, tropical and Subtropics, subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to northern Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to tall ...

trees are reproduced based on molds created by museum staff in

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. More than a hundred living species are represented including

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to ...

, piranhas, capybaras, and alligators.

Geological Wall

Large cuts of

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

s are displayed along a wall showing

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

, faults,

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to th ...

and related processes. The cuts of rock on display are primarily from Catalonia including

potassium salt In chemistry, a salt or ionic compound is a chemical compound consisting of an assembly of positively charged ions (cations) and negatively charged ions (anions), which results in a compound with no net electric charge (electrically neutral). T ...

from

Súria Súria () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Bages in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Cardener river between Manresa and Cardona, Spain, Cardona. The area is best kn ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

from

Berga Berga () is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' (county) of Berguedà, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered by the municipalities of Cercs, Olvan, Avià, Capolat and Castellar del Riu. History Berga de ...

and

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, volcanic materials from Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park, and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from Besalú.

The Universe Hall

The Universe's Hall, which is the main space in the museum, shows a tour starting with the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

to the most actuality themes, including

modern medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, wastes and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

, throw the

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and other shapes of

and science. They all are shown by interactive modules that make easier their comprehension.

Clik and Flash

One of three interactive based exhibitions for young children, Clik and Flash uses games to encourage children to learn about science. The space is split into two rooms; Clik uses play, observation and deduction through smell,

and

sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

and Flash uses technology to showcase exploration, environments, construction and electricity.

Touch, touch!

Touch, touch! houses living creatures from around the world and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. Museum staff and scientists present animals and plants from three environments.

Bubble Planetarium

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

based exhibition for children ages 3–8.

Past exhibitions - historical spaces

Touch, touch!

Touch, touch! houses living creatures from around the world and the

. Museum staff and scientists present animals and plants from three environments.

The Hall of Matter

The Hall of Matter covers

starting with the

. It is broken into four sections: the origin of

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

, the first living

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

, the conquest of "symbolic intelligence", and the birth of civilization. The exhibit touches on

gravitational wave Gravitational waves are oscillations of the gravitational field that Wave propagation, travel through space at the speed of light; they are generated by the relative motion of gravity, gravitating masses. They were proposed by Oliver Heaviside i ...

chaos theory Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of Scientific method, scientific study and branch of mathematics. It focuses on underlying patterns and Deterministic system, deterministic Scientific law, laws of dynamical systems that are highly sens ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

, mobility,

neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

and

human evolution ''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...

Gallery

File:Pano Cosmocaixa BCN.jpg, Panoramic view of the main hall File:Barcelona.Museu.de.la.Ciencia.Interior.1.jpg, A child interacting with a

lariat chain A lariat chain is a loop of chain that hangs off, and is spun by a wheel. It is often used as a science exhibit or a toy. The original lariat chain was created in 1986 by Norman Tuck, as an artist-in-residence project at the Exploratorium in San ...

in ''The Hall of Matter'' File:Darwin cosmocaixa.jpg,

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

in the exhibit ''Darwin observador, Darwin naturalista'' File:Rainforest Cosmocaixa.jpg, ''Flooded Forest'' exhibition File:Tarbosaurus mount.jpg, '' Tarbosaurus'' File:Trix en CosmoCaixa.jpg, ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

'' (" Trix" specimen, exhibited at CosmoCaixa from 27 October 2017 to 18 February 2018Elsa Velasco
"Trix, la reina de los tiranosaurios, llega a CosmoCaixa"
''La Vanguardia'', Barcelona, 27 October 2017 )

References

External links

History of CosmoCaixa
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmocaixa Barcelona Museums in Barcelona Science museums in Spain Planetaria La Caixa

Building

Exhibitions

Flooded Forest

Geological Wall

The Universe Hall

Clik and Flash

Touch, touch!

Bubble Planetarium

Past exhibitions - historical spaces

Touch, touch!

The Hall of Matter

Gallery

See also

References

External links