Created by agreement of the COOB’92 S.A. Shareholders’ Meeting, held on 9 February 1993 and established on 1 April 1993, the Foundation is a private entity and was declared a charitable organisation of cultural nature by order of the Councillor for Justice of the Government of Catalonia on 13 July 1993. It aims to disseminate information about the Barcelona Olympic Games, as well as promoting and researching values – cultural, ethical, sporting and of any other kind – emanating from Olympic ideology.
The Foundation’s specific aim, among other more general ones, is to establish, maintain and promote an exhibition and a permanent information and research centre that is open to the public and offers a global vision of the Barcelona Olympic Games and everything they represented. The original headquarters of the Barcelona Olympic Foundation in 1993 was located in the Olympic Gallery situated in the emblematic Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. The Foundation later transferred its headquarters to the Olympic and Sports Museum of Barcelona, which was founded on 21 March 2007 on Avda. del Estadio, 60, beside the Olympic Stadium. After the death of Joan Antoni Samaranch, the Museum incorporated his name into its nomenclature, resulting in the Joan Antoni Samaranch Olympic and Sports Museum. The Olympic Museum forms part of the network of international Olympic museums under the direction of the IOC. In the year 2012 the Joan Antoni Samaranch Centre for Olympic Studies was opened; the Barcelona Olympic Foundation is also responsible for managing and supervising its facilities and functions.
