The new museum, designed by Manuel Uribarri, strikes the visitor as welcoming and elegant. The space lends itself to joyful contemplation. The museum is U-shaped and has 150 meters for exhibits. The classic cornices, the 6-meter high groined vaults and the circular windows have been preserved. The walls have been repaired against humidity; the place has been endowed with LED technology lighting as well as with security, sound and PA system.
Though the big community of young Augustinian Recollects undergoing formation was transferred to Las Rozas (Madrid, Spain) five years ago, today the Augustinian Recollects continue residing in Marcilla and attending to the pastoral needs of three parishes in neighboring towns.
Juan Barba
Visits are free until 30 June 2011 to the painting exhibit of Juan Barba with which the museum was inaugurated. The show is a collection of 100 works of this unknown and amazing artist from Madrid.
Juan Barba died in 1982. Critics consider him one of the masters of the penumbra and the desgarro. The Augustinian Recollects and their spirituality were for many years the source of his inspiration. The artistic work of Juan Barba achieves, without doubt, its grandeur, space-and-quality-wise, in the magnificent 1959 mural dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in the crypt of the church of Saint Rita in Madrid. However, the Augustinian Recollect communities of Monteagudo and Marcilla (Navarra), Valladolid, Madrid or Rome (Italy) also have many noteworthy works of the same painter.