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Hash Marihuana Cáñamo & Hemp Museum

Barcelona’s Remarkable Museums, Take 5

  • Hash Marihuana Cáñamo & Hemp Museum
  • Hash Marihuana Cáñamo & Hemp Museum

Located within a building originally constructed by the Santcliment family in the barri gòtic back in the 16th Century, acquired by Josep Francesc Mornau in the 18th Century (whose name commemorates the building to this day) the Palau Mornau adopted its present day configuration in the early 20th Century at the height of Barcelona Moderisme period. Architect Manuel Joaquim Raspall i Mayol (born Barcelona, 1877 – died la Garriga, 1937) was commissioned by Joan Nadal to completely refurbish the palace and the result is an architectural jewel that reflects the aspirations and cultural wealth of the bourgeois Catalans of the time.

The conservation work took 10 years to complete, this spectacular building now accommodates the Hash Marihuana Cáñamo & Hemp Museum. Together with its sister museum located in Amsterdam the initiative (sponsored by philanthropist Ben Dronkers) looks at the extraordinary qualities and applications of this unique plant; industrial, nutritional, medicinal, ceremonial and recreational. Through a series of objects, prints, paintings, audio-visual displays and texts more than 10,000 years of history are charted within diverse cultural contexts. Everything from Henry Ford’s use of hemp to produce a prototype car in 1941 to pulp fiction movie posters from the 30s that ominously warn of the dangers of smoking it through to modern scientific studies outlining its beneficial medicinal qualities.