Backgrounds Since the sixteenth century there has been a large tradition of copying works of classical art using the traditional technique of
plaster cast. France and Italy will be in those early days the main countries where the art reproduction will be used. From the nineteenth century several museums gradually opened, generally tied to universities and academies of fine arts with the goal of teaching art history in a practical and dynamic way. One of the first fine arts museum was opened in Britain in 1857. The aim of the governments of that time, was to show to the common people the "culture of humanity." The reproduction of works of art, has been useful to teach art, but apart from that it gives the chance to have testimonies of many [works that during the Second World War
were destroyed. However, during the twentieth century, museums of reproductions suffered a great decline, surpassed only now, with the modernization of some of them like the Berlin museum, the
Trocadero, the
Victoria & Albert Museum, etc. at a time when in the rest of Europe, the reproduction of artistic works was in decline. Following the proposal by Ramírez Escudero in 1922 to the Board of Basque Culture, on October 1, 1927, approved the creation of the museum, once the council and the city of Bilbao gave their approval to the project. It is therefore one of the oldest museums in Bilbao. The Board of Trustees was constructed by distinguished figures from the artistic world, professionals such as:
Ángel Larroque,
Ricardo Bastida, and
Higinio Basterra. The museum has been located in different venues throughout its history. First, and as of 1957, it was located in the basement of Berastegi School. It later moved to a local rehabilitated Conde Mirasol Street (where it is currently the administrative headquarters and didactic). Since the enlargement of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the neighborhood of
San Francisco in 2006, the museum houses the temple main exposure. ==Reproductions==