New Museums in Spain

The architectural wealth of Spain in recent decades is notable, and some of its most exciting buildings are museums. This beautifully produced oversized volume (9.75x12") surveys the museums, which are found throughout the country, in small hamlets as well as cities, giving detailed histories of the location, conception of the museum, and the nature of its collections. Each museum's entry includes plans, architect's renderings, and numerous photos, all in color and b&w plates of outstanding quality. Distributed in the US by National Book Network. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Spanish museum architecture has experienced a marked upturn since the 1990s, helping even small towns off the tourist beaten track to acquire extraordinary museum buildings. This is expressed most visibly without a shadow of a doubt in Frank O. Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. But there are not just the international stars who have contributed to this success. Spanish architects in particular have designed unique museums that have changed the look of whole towns. The present book, which is also suitable as a museum guide, shows that this tendency is particularly conspicuous in the new museums. It confirms the world-class nature of Spanish architecture, recorded from Rafael Moneo's early Museo Nacional de Arte Romano in Merida to Herzog & de Meuron's new CaixaForum art gallery in Madrid.