The building is temple-shaped, and it has neo-Egyptian and neo-Greek ornamental elements, distinctive details of public architecture in Catalonia at the end of the 19th century, just before the Modernisme arrived.

On the facade of the building we can find the sculptures of the archbishop Francesc Armanyà and the poet Manuel de Cabanyes, who were relevant figures of Vilanova at the 19th century.

The founder's intention was to open it to any citizen "without any kind of economic or social exclusion" it was the precedent of Catalan public libraries.

The collection's classification and layout are the result of research by the librarian and printer Joan Oliva i Milà, who studied other European libraries so as to see which the best organization for the new centre was.

This deposit is often made up of Castilian, Andalusian and Valencian paintings from between the 16th and the 18th century, there are works from well-known artists such as El Greco, Francisco Goya or Jusepe de Ribera among others.

The museum also preserves the municipal Catalan painting collection of the 19th century that until 1996 was shown at Castell de la Geltrú.

There are works such as "The Holy Family" from El Greco and other paintings from Luca Giordano, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Peter Paul Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, etc.

At the second floor halls there are paintings and sculptures of the main artists of the first half of the 20th century such as Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas i Carbó, Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, Francesc Domingo or Xavier Nogués among others.

At this floor there is also a contemporary arts collection from the 1950s and '60s, with paintings from Albert Ràfols Casamada, Hernández Pijuan, Joan-Josep Tharrats, Josep Guinovart i Bertran, Antonio Saura... and sculptures from Àngel Ferrant and Andreu Alfaro among others.

The museum's Egyptian collection was the first one in Catalonia and was donated in 1886 by Eduard Toda i Güell a diplomatic figure, writer and a close collaborator with Víctor Balaguer in the Renaixença movement.

Some of the pieces of the collection come from Sennedjem's tomb in Deir el-Medina (west Thebes) where Eduard Toda collaborated.

[4] Most of the pieces of the collection were donated by diplomatic figures and distinguished personalities who travelled to the zone and sometimes took part of archaeological excavations.

The pre Columbian objects in Catalonia appeared in the 19th century when sailors and dealers, known as indianos, came back home bringing curiosities from the Americas.