Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed this pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition, and it changed architecture forever. The building was dismantled after the fair but reconstructed on its original site in 1986 — a rare case where a temporary structure was so influential it had to be brought back.
The design is deceptively simple: floating planes of marble, onyx, and glass supported by chrome-clad columns, with water pools that blur the boundary between inside and out. The famous Barcelona Chair, which Mies designed specifically for this building, is on display inside, along with a bronze reproduction of Georg Kolbe’s sculpture Morning.
Getting there: Metro Espanya (L1/L3), then a short walk up into Montjuïc. The pavilion sits just below CaixaForum.