Sporting one of the longest façades on the Ramblas, this grand palace was built in the 1780s for the Marquis de Moja by architect Josep Mas. Much of the interior was redone in the following century when it became the residence of the Marquis de Comillas, the wealthy patron of Jacint Verdaguer, who lived in the palace from 1872-92 as the family's official alms-giver, and where he wrote his epic L'Atlàntida. In the late 1880s, when he began to suffer from depression and nerves, he began to give away so much of the Marquis's fortune that the poor from the Barri Xinès queued up around the block, until the Marquis and the bishop sent him away to recover.
Now the seat of the Cultural Heritage Department of the Catalan Government Ministry of Culture, the Palau Moja's lavish Baroque/Neoclassical interior is occasionally open for special exhibitions. Check the website.
C/ Portaferrissa, 1
Hours By appointment, or during one of the palace's frequent special exhibitions
Adm Free
Metro Liceu
+34 93 316 27 40
Image by Amadalvarez, Creative Commons License