New Martorell exhibition center

The new Center Martorell d'Exposicions, Barcelona's oldest public museum, has opened its doors with the intention of becoming a key piece in combating "climate change denialism". The facility hosts scientific exhibits on topics with a strong social impact and related to biodiversity and the climate crisis and will create synergies with other nearby actors such as the Barcelona Zoo, Pompeu Fabra University or the Institute of Science and Technology. This was explained by Mayor Jaume Collboni and the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga. It is the second building to be opened to the public as part of the Ciutadella del Coneixement project, after the Hivernacle that began operating at the end of 2023.

After two years of works and a comprehensive rehabilitation process, the Martorell Museum, which is now called the Martorell Exhibition Centre, has reopened its doors. The neoclassical building that houses this space was inaugurated in 1882 to house the collections of natural sciences and archeology that the naturalist Francesc Martorell i Peña had bequeathed to the city. It was the first public museum in the Catalan capital and in all of Catalonia. In 1924 it became the Geology Museum and in 2010 it closed.

Three years of construction and 6.2 million euros of investment

The remodeling process of the building, which is listed as an asset of local interest, started in 2021. It has a budget of 6.2 million euros and has been carried out with great care to preserve to the maximum the original configuration and volumetrics. It was done in three phases and now only the last one, which refers to the exterior facade, remains pending. The drafting of this project is being finalized which will allow it to be repaired and recovered. The forecast is that these works will start in September.

As a result of the renovations carried out so far, the building has added a new access to Paseo de Picasso, with three large openings that grant transparency to the center and connect the park with the neighborhood of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and the Riverside

Another piece of the Citadel of Knowledge

The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has highlighted that the Martorell Museum, together with the Hivernacle, are the first visible pieces of what has been called the Citadel of Knowledge. It is a scientific and urban planning project that wants to turn the park into a leading node of knowledge, dissemination, research and innovation in Europe.

"We are witnessing a cultural, economic and scientific renaissance in Barcelona", said the mayor who said that this development stopped following the economic and financial crisis but said that now that the situation has stabilized has been able to resume this progress. "We see it with this paradigm that represents the recovery of the oldest museum in Catalonia and Barcelona, closed in 2010", pointed out the socialist who affirmed that it is an example of how the city works to preserve its physical heritage and also the which is not material: knowledge.

Collboni has claimed the centrality of the Citadel of Knowledge and has said that it aspires to become a hub similar to Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York. As part of the Citadel of Knowledge, the Castle of the Three Dragons and the Umbracle will also be rehabilitated (both by the end of 2026); the three research buildings of the former Mercat del Peix (with works already underway) and the CSIC Biosciences Center (expected completion in 2027).

Combat climate change denialism

Collboni has warned that in the current complex moment of drought where it is necessary to adopt exceptional measures and call for responsibility, it is also important to combat "climate change denialism". He has stated that this museum will be a key tool in this fight that will reaffirm the certainty that human action alters the climate. "This is fighting with knowledge and filling the museum with boys and girls and explaining to them what science is," he said.

For her part, the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, has explained that the new exhibition center will host scientific exhibits related to the climate crisis and biodiversity. "For us it is a duty to respond to the concerns of our times", commented Garriga who pointed out that the center was born with the aim of creating "transformative culture adapted to the new times, in short culture and nature".

One of the two exhibits that can already be seen in the new museum is Wow. Museum animals: science, technique and art, which recalls the work of taxidermists with six scenes of naturalized animals. There is a group of fifteen stampeding wild goats, two fighting zebras, and a lioness hunting for bucks among others.

The other exhibition is Nature or Culture? A view from the natural science museum, a tour through the history of natural science museums that recovers the skeleton of Avi, the legendary elephant from the Barcelona zoo from the beginning of the 20th century and which had been exhibited at the old Museum of Zoology.