Casa Àsia

© Olivia Rutherford / Time Out

Casa Àsia review Rate it

This cultural centre for Asia and the Asian Pacific is housed in the jaw-droppingly ornate Palau Baró de Quadras, designed by Puig i Cadafalch in 1904. If you can tear your eyes away from the building's array of lavish carvings and mosaics, there are a variety of excellent temporary exhibits covering anything from modern Chinese abstract art to Iranian graphics. The underlying function of this organisation, however, is the promotion of Asian culture in Barcelona, with language courses, international conferences and cinema seasons (often subtitled in English). It also features an oriental café on the ground floor and an excellent multimedia library on the fourth floor, which allows visitors to hire CDs, DVDs and books on presentation of a passport or ID card.