Christmas is approaching and the city is getting ready to celebrate this great winter fest. Museums and heritage facilities are joining in the celebrations and, as well as showing off their collections, are inviting us to take part in some of the many guided tours, musical activities and learning proposals that have been programmed, especially for families, but also for adults. Everyone will find one excuse or another to visit Barcelona’s museums and heritage sites.

You’ll find proposals in the city’s major facilities, including CCCB, CosmoCaixa, Historical Archive, Born CCM, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Poble Espanyol, The Natural Science Museum, Picasso Museum and the Joan Brossa Foundation. You’ll find it as well in smaller, more intimate and less well-known centres and spaces such as Biblioteca Pública Arús, Pavelló Mies van der Rohe and Palau Macaya.

There are activities of all kinds, but among the wide range on offer are proposals such as that of Disseny Hub Barcelona, which celebrates its tenth anniversary on the weekend of 14 and 15 December with an Open Day and a light installation on the roof of the building that can be seen until 2 February.

Do you like music? Then come to the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes, stage of a Christmas concert with a Baroque repertoire, performed by Vespres d’Arnadí and the mezzo-soprano Marta Infante, on 17 December. At the same venue, don’t miss a visit to the traditional nativity scene (pictured) and let them explain to you the importance of the mediaeval market garden.

If you have ever wondered how Christmas was celebrated in the 18th century, you should go to El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria, which organises visits; children’s workshops such as Bornautes, which will stimulate creativity and research among children from 6 to 12 years old; or the activity La ciutat de la xocolata, in which the social importance of this product in the Barcelona of the past will be explained.

Family workshops at the Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA-Plaça del Rei), treasure hunt like the one you can play while you see the exhibition Barcelona Flashback (MUHBA-Padellàs) and activities in places like the Museu Etnològic i de Cultures del Món with workshops and proposals for kids at both Montjuïc and carrer de Montcada museums are part of the Christmas programme of the city’s museums and heritage sites. You’ll find more proposals at MACBA, Fundació Joan Miró, Museu Picasso Barcelona, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona and Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, among many other centres and spaces scattered all over the city.

If you would like to enjoy the more than 90 activities prepared by Barcelona’s museums and heritage sites, consult the Barcelona City Council’s Christmas website.