The Board of Trustees of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), of which the Generalitat, the Ministry of Culture and the Barcelona City Council form part, has unanimously agreed to start processing the tender for the project to expand the museum and the services drafting of the basic and executive projects, and to renew the director, Pepe Serra, for a period of five years.

The board of trustees has agreed to provide the museum with the necessary mechanisms to make this expansion action possible in the Victòria Eugènia Pavilion, both in technical aspects and in conceptual issues, the museum reported this Wednesday in a statement.

The calendar on which work is being carried out foresees the development of the feasibility and museography plans and the architectural projects during 2022 and 2023, to face the public competition for the definitive project at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.

The MNAC’s strategic plan marks the year 2029, the centenary of the Universal Exposition, the urbanization of Montjuïc and the construction of the Palau Nacional, as the horizon for the completion of the works.

The extension to the Victòria Eugènia Pavilion will mean an “important transformation and will allow a global rethinking of the museum, the spaces, the stories and their scope”, the museum has underlined.

The board of trustees of the MNAC has also agreed to the renewal of the director, Pepe Serra, for a period of five years, and has assessed “very positively” the work carried out during the stage that he leads the museum.

He has especially highlighted the social and cultural positioning achieved, which has led to a significant increase in visitors, reaching nearly 900,000 in 2019 compared to 400,000 in 2012, at the beginning of his mandate.

In this period, the museum has organized more than 70 exhibition projects, has renewed the presentation of the collections of modern, renaissance and baroque art, has worked on the formation of the post-war and avant-garde collection, and has increased the collection, with acquisitions and donations.