The building was erected between 1772 and 1777, and entrusted to Manuel d’Amat I de Junyent (1704-1782) in order to be his place of residence in Barcelona. Manuel d’Amat was viceroy of Peru during fourteen years (1761-1776). He married Maria Francesca Fivaller i Bru in 1779. His widow outlived him twelve years, living in the […]
The building was erected between 1772 and 1777, and entrusted to Manuel d’Amat I de Junyent (1704-1782) in order to be his place of residence in Barcelona. Manuel d’Amat was viceroy of Peru during fourteen years (1761-1776). He married Maria Francesca Fivaller i Bru in 1779. His widow outlived him twelve years, living in the building, which started to be known as the Virreina Palace because of this fact.
By the middle of the 19th century the palace became property of Josep Carreras Argerich, former administrator of the family Amat, and it was acquired by the City Council of Barcelona in 1944 in order to turn it into a cultural equipment with exhibition rooms, and, mainly, into the headquarters of the Decorative Arts Museum (1949).
Aside from this museum, and before the Postal and Philatelic Museum opening, Virreina Palace already hosted the Cambó collection, which arrived to the city thanks to the politician in 1947. Later on, and provisionally, in 1980 it also became the headquarters of the Numismatic Cabinet of Catalonia, which is nowadays a section within the National Art Museum of Catalonia.
The collection of stamps donated by Ramon Marull was preserved in a big closet, according to the existent models in the Universal Postal Union in Bern. The Postal Union was created in 1878 as postage services meeting organisation in order to encourage the cooperation and execution of communal politics. At that moment it was the model to follow within the philatelic conservation.
This closet purchase cost, according to the Municipal Gazette of Barcelona on 6 April 1959, 92.000 pesetas. It was made of iron, glass and wood. Its triple nature as closet, strongbox and showcase allowed a flexible and safe search of stamps. It was only opened upon visitor request, so their exposition to the light and the sudden changes in weather and humidity were considerably reduced. The collection was presented organised in album sheets following an alphabetical order by countries and chronology.
Virreina Palace appointment as headquarters for the Cultural Department of Ajuntament de Barcelona in 1984 forced the restructuring of spaces not used as museum, and to locate the Postal Cabinet in other place, which was not achieved until 1990.
