Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer

The Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer is a combined museum and library located in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a city in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded in 1884 by the politician and writer Víctor Balaguer as a gesture of gratitude to the city for its support during his political career, it stands as one of the oldest and most singular museums in Catalonia. Since 2000, the museum has formed part of the National Art Museum of Catalonia, while the library belongs to the National Library of Catalonia. In 2016, the museum was declared a Museum of National Interest by the Generalitat of Catalonia, a designation that superseded its earlier status as a section of the National Art Museum of Catalonia and recognized its exceptional value for Catalan cultural heritage.

Víctor Balaguer founded the institution on 26 October 1884. His vision was to create a centre that would make the entirety of human knowledge accessible to any citizen, explicitly without economic or social exclusion, making it a precursor to Catalan public libraries. The building itself had been under construction since 1882, specifically conceived to house both a library and a museum, a rarity for that era. Over the decades, the building underwent various alterations, though a later renovation chose to recover the original style designed by architect Jeroni Granell i Mundet, restoring natural light to the interior halls. The institution has maintained much of its original 19th-century aesthetic and collections, allowing visitors to experience the atmosphere of a museum from that period.

The museum's holdings reflect the multidisciplinary interests typical of 19th-century collectors. As of 2023, the artistic collection comprises 10,500 different objects, with particular strength in 19th-century painting and sculpture. The collection is subdivided into several categories: 19th-century Catalan painting and sculpture; baroque painting on deposit from the Museo del Prado; 20th-century painting and sculpture including the Legate of the 56; decorative arts in glass and ceramic from the Gothic period through the end of the 19th century; and ethnographic collections. The ethnographic section includes pieces from the Philippines, Egypt, China, and Japan, as well as pre-Columbian art, assembled partly as a result of Balaguer's appointment as Minister of Overseas Affairs and the 19th-century fascination with distant cultures. The Egyptian collection is especially notable as the oldest in Catalonia, featuring the mummy of a child, one of only five mummies preserved in Catalan museums. The library holds approximately 50,000 books, nearly 2,000 periodical titles from the 18th through 20th centuries, some 50,000 letters, and various literary and political manuscripts of Víctor Balaguer. It also preserves documents and archives from figures such as Enric Cristòfor Ricart, Joan Alemany i Moya, Eduard Toldrà, Joan Rius Vila, José Cruset, and J.E. Roig Santacana.

The 19th-century painting gallery ranks among the finest collections of Catalan painting from that century, featuring works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas i Carbó, Joaquim Vayreda, Ramon Martí Alsina, Pau Carbonell, and Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer. These works are displayed chronologically to evoke the influence of the Roman school on Catalan art. The gallery also holds Joaquín Sorolla's Monteleon's Park Defense, popularly known as the Second of May, on deposit from the Museo del Prado. The Prado hall contains an important collection of baroque painting from the same deposit, including El Greco's The Holy Family and works by Luca Giordano, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Peter Paul Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Francisco Goya, and Van Dyck. The 20th-century collection on the second floor features works by Rusiñol, Casas, Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, Francesc Domingo, and Xavier Nogués, mostly small-format works donated in 1956 and known as the Legate of the 56. There is also a contemporary art collection from the 1950s and 1960s including works by Albert Ràfols Casamada, Hernández Pijuan, and Joan-Josep Tharrats, as well as a hall dedicated to paintings of the old Cafè Foment and a space for works from the Vilanova School.

The building was constructed between 1882 and 1884 to designs by architect Jeroni Granell i Mundet. It occupies a central location in Vilanova i la Geltrú, surrounded by the railway station, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia's superior engineering technical college, and that college's library. The temple-shaped structure incorporates neo-Egyptian and neo-Greek ornamental elements characteristic of late 19th-century Catalan public architecture, just before the arrival of Modernisme. The facade features sculptures of Archbishop Francesc Armanyà, by Manuel Fuxá, and poet Manuel de Cabanyes, by Josep Campeny, both prominent figures of Vilanova from the 18th and 19th centuries. Above the main entrance, the Latin motto Surge et Ambula (stand up and walk) is inscribed. The building is surrounded by a 19th-century garden containing the Santa Teresa House, where Víctor Balaguer resided during his stays in Vilanova.

The Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer is located in the centre of Vilanova i la Geltrú, easily accessible near the railway station and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia campus. The institution operates under the ownership and management framework established by its 2016 designation as a Museum of National Interest by the Generalitat of Catalonia. Since 2000, the museum has functioned as a section of the National Art Museum of Catalonia, while the library operates as a section of the National Library of Catalonia. Visitors can access the original 19th-century collections, the Prado deposit hall with its rotating baroque paintings, the 20th-century galleries, and the specialized library with its extensive holdings. The building's original design as a combined library and museum, rare for its time, continues to serve its founding purpose of open access to knowledge and culture.