Museums

The active history of El Maresme’s municipalities has resulted in the existence of a large number of museums, some of which are devoted to unusual and curious specialties, such as the Museu del Càntir in Argentona (ceramic water jugs) or the Museu Marès de la Punta in Arenys de Mar (lace making).

Some of the area museums are located in buildings of great architectural interest, such as the Museu Municipal d’Estampació Tèxtil of Premià de Mar (textile printing museum), which occupies the Modernist building of the old gas factory.

The most original museums in the Maresme

The Maresme is a place where you can find a wide range of things to do: nautical, cultural, adventure, family... For all tastes and ages.
 
And did you know that in the Maresme you can see more than 4,000 specimens of pitchers? Or the country’s only two reconstructions of wine presses as they were and right where they were 2,000 years ago? In this article you will be able to see a collection of the most original museums in our region, all with a feature that makes them characteristic and that are sure not to leave you indifferent!
 
Premià Printing Museum

The museum in Premià de Mar is the only museum in Spain specialising in textile printing. It offers guided tours for groups to the exhibitions "Textile Printing" and "Premià Archaeology" and during the year it also organises temporary displays. The museum's workshop offers activities for all with a wide range of educational and leisure activities that include workshops related to textiles and other crafts.
 
Jordi Puigduví Vertebrate Fauna Collection

La Central is an information centre in the Parc del Montnegre i del Corredor where there is a small collection of naturalised birds. The centre organises various activities related to nature: talks, workshops, ornithology courses, guided walks, screenings, etc. You can also find publications and information on the routes of the nature park and the surroundings of Arenys de Munt.
The centre can be visited at weekends.

Vallmora Wine Tourism and Archaeological Centre

A small museum on the theme of wine exploitation in Roman times and their wine culture presented on a guided tour of the 3,400 m² Archaeological Park of the Roman winery of Vallmora. It also contains the country’s only two reconstructions of wine presses as they were and right where they were 2,000 years ago.
 
Calella Tourism Museum

The tourism museum is a modern cultural facility whose main objective is to visually and attractively share the history of tourism and its socio-cultural and economic effects.
It is therefore a space to promote culture and tourism, which offers various educational and pedagogical activities designed for different audiences as well as school visits. The museum is divided into different spaces: the Tourism Room, which covers from the preparation of the trip to the end of the experience, through the multi-purpose room where the temporary displays are housed to finally reach the Calella Room, which focuses on the history of the town and the great revolution that the arrival of the first tourists brought.

 
Mollfulleda Museum of Mineralogy

The Mollfulleda Museum of Mineralogy in Arenys de Mar was founded in 1988 with a donation from Joaquim Mollfulleda i Borrell.
The Museum holds an important collection of minerals as a result of Joaquim Mollfulleda i Borrell's love of mineralogy, but also thanks to the contribution of a large number of collectors who have donated their specimens, amongst whom is Joaquim Folch i Girona, whose collection is considered one of the most important in the world.
The complex is divided into several rooms where minerals and their characteristics are displayed, as well as a room dedicated to the mineralogy of Catalonia and the evolution of Catalan mining.

 
Museum of the Old Mine of Vilassar

Can Eudald is the centre of the Old Mine Museum. This is an old hydraulic mill built in 1806, which has been restored and refurbished as a museum. The tour begins at the Weather Station, and before entering the building you can see how the water comes from the wells and mines. Inside the museum we find five rooms, where the permanent collection is displayed, and where we can see the history of the water company, the construction of the wells and the mines, the old water mill and the drain mine, now dry.
The museum has a library specialising in all topics related to water, as well as the Old Mine historical archive.

 
Can Marfà Knitwear Museum

Can Marfà is the space of Mataró Museum that is dedicated to the knitting industry with which the city is identified. It is located in one of the warehouses of the former Marfà factory, the most important knitwear factory in Spain before 1936.
 
It is an industrial complex of the last third of the 19th century, consisting of two ground floor buildings with two storeys each. The first floor houses the reference exhibition, and on the second floor we find the programme of temporary displays, the educational area and the assembly hall, where activities and workshops are offered on the history of the industry, the technique, design and fashion.
 

Pitcher Museum

Argentona Pitcher Museum is a public institution of Argentona Council, managed by a Municipal Board that preserves and displays a collection of more than 4,000 water containers, most made of traditional pottery.
 
These specimens range from the Bronze Age to Picasso, mainly from Catalonia and Spain, but there are also some from other countries such as Portugal, France, Italy, Morocco, Mexico and Peru, among others. 
Every year, coinciding with the Festa del Càntir [Pitcher Festival], the Museum also organises the International Ceramics and Pottery Fair with the aim of disseminating and maintaining traditional pottery.
 

Palau Foundation

The Palau Foundation was opened in 2003 with the aim of conserving, displaying and disseminating the artistic and documentary collection of Josep Palau i Fabre.
 
Josep Palau i Fabre was a poet who also cultivated different artistic disciplines such as poetry, theatre, essay and narrative, and was one of the leading specialists in the work of the painter Pablo Picasso with whom he had a good relationship during the last years of his life.
 
The Foundation permanently exhibits his works and others by Picasso in the Estimat Picasso room, which includes an important documentary and bibliographic collection of the painter.
 
There are also temporary and travelling displays, poetry recitals, musicals, conferences and other activities always around artistic creation.
 
Marès Embroidery Museum

The Arenys de Mar Museum opened its doors on 13 March 1983, and the space has grown with the donation and acquisition of embroidery pieces that have made it a benchmark museum in Europe.
 
Its rooms offer a tour of the history of embroidery, an essential element in fashion and clothing that started in Venice in the late 16th century and spread rapidly throughout Europe. In the Museum you can see works from the end of the 16th century to the present day, distributed according to their origin and technique: necks, handkerchiefs, fans, blankets, shawls...
 
Inside the Marès Embroidery Punta Museum you can also find a room dedicated to the history of Arenys de Mar, with objects from the old Fidel Fita Municipal Museum, which tell us about its history from the findings of the Iberian village of the Torre dels Encantats until the Spanish Civil War.

All the museums of the Maresme