Refurbishment of the permanent collection. Construction has begun.

The Spanish Department of Education, Culture and Education will invest €636,199.85 to carry out the refurbishment of the permanent exhibitions and the adaptation of the reception area, the temporary exhibition areas, educational area and family areas.

The construction will require the closure of the museum and will take six months to complete. This time will also be used to organise a series of educational activities around Menorca under the name ‘The Museum Steps Out of the Museum’.

The museum expects to re-open this very summer.

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Quick facts:

• Start of construction: November, 2017
• Completion of construction: July, 2018

Total cost

• €636,199.85
• €21,538 (technical direction of the executive project)

Project and management

• Antoni Nicolau,
• Kultura, Idees i Estratègies per al Patrimoni S.L.

Contracted company

• Croquis, Dissenys, Muntatges i Realitzacions, S.A.

Organisation

• Office of the Deputy Director for National Museums

Funding

• Directorship for Educational and Cultural Infrastructure and Facilities
• Department of Education, Culture and Sport

Much-anticipated refurbishments

This is a decisive step in anticipation of the 20^th anniversary of the inauguration of the Museu de Menorca, with the refurbishment and remodelling that the institution shall undertake with reference to its permanent exhibition, so as to complete the circle of this period of the museum's history. The total construction budget of €636,199.85, which will be funded entirely by the Government's Department of Education, Culture and Sport, shall include a variety of improvements for the museum's facilities. In this sense, the project execution has defined as its primary objective the refurbishment of the permanent exhibition located on the first and second floors of the building that was once the Convent of Sant Francesc, while also prioritising the adaptation of several other areas like the reception, the temporary exhibition areas, the restoration lab, educational areas, and a new family area. The project has been designed by the company Kultura, Idees i Estratègies per al Patrimoni S.L. with collaboration from the museum's guidelines, and shall be executed by the company Croquis, Dissenys, Muntatges i Realitzacions, S.A between the months of January and July of 2018, during which time the Museu de Menorca shall remain closed to the public.

Since the original museum first opened its doors in 1998, its collection has increased in size by more than 50%, stemming primarily from several excavations performed around the island of Menorca, with its significant archaeological activity and approximately 1,200 archaeological sites. Continuous donations have also been of utmost importance, the most recent and substantial of which has been the Flaquer Collection, which was received in June of 2017. The museum will be incorporating material that has until now never been exhibited, with emphasis on integral pieces so as to facilitate the visitor's comprehension.

In hopes of making the most of the project's available budget, the decision has been made to continue to use a large part of the display cases, with the exception of those whose dimensions are no longer viable. Any museum resources and materials that have been acquired for previous exhibitions or others than have been organised by the museum or the Consell Insular de Menorca (local island government) will also be utilized.

The new permanent exhibition

The permanent exhibition is generally the focal point of any visit to any museum, serving as the cover letter with which the restructuring of the Museu de Menorca will define its facelift with a new approach for the account of its permanent exhibition. To this effect, instead of functioning as a diversified museum, it will become a museum that shall focus on the history of Menorca as defined by certain thematic areas that have been created with regards to different aspects of archaeology and the island's history, with the goal of offering more specific details, not limited to generic concepts, and explaining the keys to help visitors comprehend the historical evolution of Menorca.

The visit shall begin with the permanent exhibition, where audiovisual presentations will detail the key aspects of a geographical and historical depiction of the island. Next, visitors will set off on a route through prehistoric times and the diversity of cultures and peoples that have inhabited Menorca, followed by the Catalan Conquest, British influence, traditional social order, factors of insularity, the significant nature of the sea that surrounds the island, the expansion of the contemporary era, social, economic and cultural development and the relationship between the environment and its residents with regards to landscape. This area will also include a description of the building that houses the museum and its history as well as an exhibition area that will step out beyond the museum's boundaries to disseminate the archaeological and monumental wealth of the island.

The creation of this journey through the thematic areas of the updated museography of the Museu de Menorca has been developed via the analysis of its collections, including those objects that have been discovered in more recent excavations, while also presenting significant aspects of the island's history with regards to which the collections in and of themselves could not provide a comprehensive script to detail the island's history.

Improvements to visitation

With these improvements, the Museu de Menorca will also be provided with a significant and diverse amount of supporting materials for visitors, ensuring accessibility and the aim of providing the keys and guidelines to guarantee the proper interpretation of the museum's contents and system of its collections throughout its newly structured exhibition areas. Furthermore, to complement our wish to provide cultural access, technological aids and resources shall be incorporated to assure access to any visitors with special needs.

The proposed general criteria shall be strictly defined with the establishment of attractive presentations, in line with the installations as a whole, with notable improvement in the quality of the written and graphical text. With regards to language, Catalan, Spanish and English shall be included in all points of informational support, clear evidence of the museum's educational and communicative calling.