Montserrat Museum: Hours, Prices & What to See

The Montserrat Museum is the mountain’s main art museum and houses more than 1,300 works spread across seven permanent collections, ranging from Middle Eastern archaeology to Caravaggio, Picasso, and Dalí. Most visitors who come to spend the day walk right past the entrance on their way to the basilica and never realize the impressive cultural heritage housed within its walls.

This brief guide is designed to provide you with information on opening hours, admission prices, the contents of the collections, visitor guidelines, and a brief history of the museum—including a note about the photograph that some guidebooks get wrong. It also alerts you to some temporary closures you should be aware of before you go.

Montserrat Museum Ticket Prices and Hours

These are the hours and admission fees published by the museum itself. The extended afternoon hours apply on specific days listed on the museum’s calendar (primarily weekends and holidays).

• Adult: €12
• Reduced (students, seniors, groups of 20+): €10
• Children 8–16: €6
• Temporary exhibition only: €3.50
• 27 April (Feast of Our Lady of Montserrat): free entry

Admission to the museum is separate from general admission to the basilica and the sanctuary. See below for the best tickets to Montserrat that include the museum. If you’d also like to visit the basilica or see the Black Virgin, check out our Montserrat guided tours section, where you’ll find the best options for your day trip to Montserrat from Barcelona.

So, if you don’t want to miss this museum, which houses an impressive cultural heritage, your best bet is to buy a ticket. Here are the best options:

Heads up: one collection is closed right now

What’s inside: the museum’s collections

The Montserrat Museum is organized into seven permanent collections, plus at least one rotating temporary exhibition:

• Archaeology of the Ancient World: artifacts from the Middle East, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia, most of which were collected by Father Bonaventura Ubach beginning in 1906. Currently closed (see above).
• Old Master Paintings: works acquired in Rome and Naples between 1913 and 1920 under the direction of Abbot Antoni M. Marcet, and later expanded by Abbot Aureli M. Escarré. Works by El Greco and Caravaggio, among others.
• Modern painting — The museum’s largest and most prominent section, created from the 1982 donation of Josep Sala Ardiz’s collection. This gallery features works by Dalí, Picasso, Monet, and Renoir.
• Avant-garde and contemporary art — This remains a relatively new and expanding section of the museum.
• Sculpture — About twenty works on permanent display.
• Drawings — Since paper is fragile, only a rotating selection is on display at any given time, rather than the entire collection.
• Phos Hilaron — About 80 Greek and Slavic icons from the 18th to the 20th centuries, on display since 2005 in a room dedicated to them, illuminated in shades of purple and gold.

There’s usually one temporary exhibition running alongside the permanent collections.

A short history of the Montserrat Museum

Almost nothing on display today predates the 19th century — the monastery was destroyed and suppressed during that period, and lost its earlier art collections along with it. Everything now in the museum was acquired or donated afterward, largely thanks to a handful of individuals.

Father Bonaventura Ubach began collecting Middle Eastern archaeological pieces in 1906. Abbots Antoni M. Marcet and Aureli M. Escarré added Old Master paintings bought in Italy through the 1910s and 1920s. The museum’s own architecture — built into the ground beneath the monastery’s plazas and the foundations of its tower — was designed by modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch between 1928 and 1933. All the separate collections were finally brought together under one roof in 1996, and a new room, “Montserrat s. XIV,” opened in 2023 to display the oldest architectural remains found on the mountain, preserved in situ.

Visitor rules and etiquette

• Photography without flash is allowed in the galleries — tripods are not.
• No food, drink, or smoking inside the museum.
• Bags and backpacks larger than 30×30 cm aren’t allowed inside.
• Weapons, sharp objects, aerosols and liquids are not permitted.
• Hats, covered or masked faces, costumes, and barefoot or shirtless visitors are turned away at the door.
• Pets aren’t allowed, except guide dogs.
• Children must be accompanied by an adult responsible for their behavior.

Accessibility

The museum has had a step-free entrance since 2004 ♿. Once inside, visitors with reduced mobility have full access to every gallery.

FAQ — Montserrat Museum

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