Joan Gamper suggested the creation of a Barça museum as early as the 1920’s. However, the idea didn’t come to fruition until 1984 when the FC Barcelona Museum was inaugurated. In doing this the Barça club became the first club in the world to collect and exhibit its past. The blue-red team colours and the Camp Nou, the giant Barça stadium that seats 120,000 spectators, have become symbols to legions of fans.
The museum is divided into different sections. One section brings together the Barça past in terms of photographs, audio-visual material, athletic items and all the trophies the club has won over the course of its history. The most significant trophy is, without a doubt, the Europa Cup that the FC Barcelona won in 1992. Coincidentally, this happened to be the same year that the city hosted the Olympic Games.
Another section is dedicated to the contributions made by a variety of Catalonian artists such as Dalí, Miró, Tàpies and Subirachs. In addition, the museum houses one of the best private collections on the subject of football, and the specialised document centre allows visitors to access any imaginable kind of club information.
Since the museum is located next to the Camp Nou, visitors have two options. Either they can choose to only visit the exhibitions or they can opt for a guided tour of the stadium as well. The tour includes a visit to the locker room used by visiting teams and, after crossing through a tunnel, a stop on the playing field and at the player’s benches.
