Catalonia celebrates the International Day of Museums

This week marks the start of a new edition of International Museum Day (IMD), which has been organized every May 18 since the International Committee of Museums (ICOM) began its celebration in 1977. The great festival of museums will begin on Saturday 13 of May, with the popular Night of the Museums, and will last until May 21. As every year, the Department of Culture has promoted a graphic campaign that has been made available to all museums so that they can spread the word about their activities on the occasion of the event. Likewise, it enables, as every year, a web space where all the activity organized by the Catalan museums is collected.

The Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, will take part in this celebration by taking a tour on Saturday night of the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), the Museum of Archeology of Catalonia (MAC) and the Miró Foundation.

The motto chosen this year by the International Council of Museums is 'Museums, sustainability and well-being'. The aim is to highlight how museums contribute fundamentally to the well-being and development of communities. In this sense, Catalan museums are collaborating in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: from supporting climate action and promoting inclusion, to fighting social isolation and improving health mental

Activities throughout the territory

The DIM agenda already has more than 200 activities throughout the territory, including guided and theatrical tours, concerts and shows, family workshops and open days. The number of activities will be expanded and updated during this week on the website of the Cultural Heritage of Catalonia .

Most of the activities will take place during the Night of the Museums, on Saturday 13 May. There will be open days but also many special activities. Highlights include, for example, the concerts and shows, such as the concert at the Tortosa Museum , the puppet theater at the Lleida Museum or the constellation of African sounds at the MACBA . There will also be theatrical visits to travel through history in an enjoyable and fun way, such as the one at the Museu de les Mines de Cercs under the title Els fets de Fígols de 1932 or the R evolution of flour at the Ecomuseu Farinera de Castelló d'Empúries , as well as family activities such as the track game for children aged 6 to 12 at the Museu de Llívia .

The museums of the cities of Girona and Tarragona have organized joint activities during the Night of the Museums. In Girona, the museums have joined together to co-organize the proposals . The end of the party will be the concert with River Omelet on the terrace of the Cinema Museum. In Tarragona you can once again enjoy the Journey to the Constellation Museum , a night guided tour of the museums and cultural institutions of the city of Tarragona. The route is structured on the basis of a universal concept that acts as a link between the different institutions. The duration of the tour is approximately 2 and a half hours. Users will move between the different museums on foot and, for longer journeys, they will do so on the tourist train.

During May 18, International Museum Day, the open days and special guided tours of the collections and exhibitions stand out. During the weekend, from 20 to 21 May, some facilities also offer activities as part of the DIM celebration. There will be theNight of Fire at the Museum of Stamping in Premià de Mar , workshops for young and old at the Barcelona Chocolate Museum, or the Pyrenean guitar concert at the Valls d'Àneu Ecomuseum , between other proposals.

Activities at the museums of the Generalitat de Catalunya

As for the museums of the Generalitat de Catalunya, all facilities will hold open days on May 18, International Museum Day.

Regarding the Night of the Museums, the Museum of Archeology of Catalonia has organized, at its headquarters in Barcelona, an open day, in addition to a historical recreation activity or a self-guided escape room for the Naufragis temporary exhibition .

In Empúries, during the Night of the Museums, you can enjoy a guided night walk through the Greco-Roman city, accompanied by the dancer Laia Puigvert, who will perform dance pieces inspired by the stories of Greek mythology.

At the headquarters in Girona of the Museum of Archeology there will be open doors also during the Night of the Museums. In Ullastret, on May 20, a guided tour of the museum will take place on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the start of the excavations and, on the 21st, a conference has been organized on bone and ivory crafts from the Iberian sites of Ulastret

At the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona (MNAT), during the Night of the Museums, in addition to the 'Journey to the Museum Constellation', you can enjoy the family activity The sea in a mosaic , which will allow children to discover the Mosaic of the fish and make your own mosaic decorated with marine fauna. On the 18th you can take part in the theatrical visit of Tiberius, merchant of the Mare Nostrum .

At the Museum of the History of Catalonia , during the Night of the Museums, there will be guided visits to the temporary exhibition Illustrious of a century, theatrical performances and a painting workshop for families.

The MNACTEC offers an open day and various free activities on May 14. Among the proposals will be a theater-clown show , visits to the object reserve rooms and the restoration workshop , or guided tours of the Museum's roof vaults .

The Art Museum of Girona is proposing, for May 18, a creative workshop on recycled bags . Based on banners from the recently completed temporary exhibition Feresa de Silenci: Feminal magazine artists, participants will be able to make and create their own personalized bag with a unique image from the exhibition.

All information on International Museum Day and Museum Night can be found on the event's website . This includes the programming that has been organized by the museum facilities of 60 Catalan municipalities from all over the territory. An agenda that can be filtered by day, by type of activity, by type of target audience and by municipality. In addition, to make it more accessible, the activities can be searched on a geolocated map.

Indicators of Catalan museums 2022

On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Museums, the Generalitat publishes the indicators of Catalan museums for 2022. The number of visitors to the registered museums and collections during the year 2022 increased by 116.4% in relation to previous year, adding a total of 18,787,587 visitors. With this figure, the data from before the covid-19 pandemic (26,452,709 registered visitors in 2019) are beginning to be recovered.

On the other hand, during 2022 two new facilities were registered in the Register of Museums: Can Tinturé, from Esplugues de Llobregat, and the Museum of Water and Textile in Manresa. Both were previously collections open to the public. Since 2023, the Fundació Mas Miró de Mont-roig del Camp has been registered in the Register.

As for the museum networks, during 2022 two new museums became part of them. The Museu Diocesà d'Urgell is now part of the Network of Art Museums and the Geological Museum of the Barcelona Seminary of the Network of Museums of Natural Sciences of Catalonia.