SPORTS VENUES, LIVING MEMORY
The Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch hosts a new photographic exhibition on the history of Barcelona’s sports venues
The Barcelona Olympic Foundation presents Sports Venues, Living Memory, a photographic exhibition on display in the temporary exhibition space of the Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch from 16 June 2026 to 7 February 2027.
The exhibition grows directly from the book Espais esportius que han fet història a Barcelona, published by the Barcelona Olympic Foundation and produced by the Joan Antoni Samaranch Olympic Studies Centre. The book documents more than 130 venues linked to sporting activity in the city — including gymnasiums, sports halls, facilities and urban spaces — from the late 19th century to the present day, and forms the basis of the photographic selection on display. The book is available at the Museu Olympic shop.
The Barcelona Olympic Foundation works to recover, preserve and promote the historical memory of those sports facilities that defined an era and played a decisive role in shaping Barcelona’s sporting identity. These venues are not only part of the city’s historical and sporting heritage but also bear witness to the central role that sport has played in its social, cultural and urban development.
The exhibition is an invitation to discover the pioneering facilities that laid the foundations for Barcelona to be recognised worldwide as an international capital of sport.
