MEIAC

Contemporary art museum built over a Franco-era prison

The Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo was built into the shell of a prison used during the Franco regime and opened in 1995. The collection focuses on Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American contemporary art from the 1980s onward, displayed across four floors and a semi-basement. Major works by Juan Muñoz, Cristina Iglesias and the Portuguese painter Júlio Pomar sit alongside changing exhibitions of younger artists from across the Iberoamerican world.

It is one of the more interesting modern art museums in western Spain, and the building's history gives it an edge that purpose-built galleries lack. Admission is free, the cafe in the rotunda is decent, and the museum sits in the southern part of the city about a 15-minute walk from the cathedral.

things to do museum
A story
The radial layout of the museum — a central rotunda with wings shooting outward — is not a designer's flourish. It is the surviving footprint of the Panopticon-style prison that stood here from 1958, where political prisoners of the Franco regime were held. The architects kept enough of the original structure visible that the cells and corridors are still readable inside the new galleries.

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