Museum of Menorca facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Museum of Menorca |
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| Native name Catalan: Museu de Menorca |
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Museu de Menorca
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| Location | Mahón, Spain |
The Museum of Menorca is a cool place in Mahón, Spain, on the Balearic Islands. It's a public museum that helps us learn all about the prehistory and history of Menorca. The museum collects, studies, and shares amazing objects from the island's past.
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Discover Menorca's Past
The Museum of Menorca is located on Avenida del Doctor Guàrdia, s/n, in Mahón. It has a huge collection of items. These come from older museums, recent archaeological digs, and even gifts from people and other groups.
The main exhibition was completely updated in 2017-2018. It reopened in July 2018, showing off Menorca's history in a fresh way. The museum also has special temporary exhibitions on the ground floor. It's the main place to learn about Menorca's heritage and its unique cultural landscape. The museum also does important research into the island's Prehistory.
A Journey Through Time: The Museum's History
The museum we know today has a long history. It started as the Municipal Museum of Mahón. This first museum opened on November 4, 1889. It was in an old building called Principal de Guardia, right across from the town hall.
A person named Joan Seguí Rodríguez helped start it. The first things in the museum were gifts from private people. For example, Pere Monjo Monjo, who was the museum's first helper, gave pieces of Roman tombs found in Mahón.
After the founder passed away in 1890, the city council asked teachers from the local high school to look after the collection. Later, in 1898, a teacher named Francesc Hernández Sanz took charge of making sure the collection was well cared for.
In 1906, the museum's items moved to the Ateneo Museum. They stayed there until 1944. Then, they became part of a new museum called the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts. This new museum was set up by Félix Merino and M. Lluïsa Serra. The Mahón City Council gave a palace called Can Mercadal for the new museum. This building is now the public library. The new museum opened there in November 1948. Many more items were added, including those from archaeological groups and private collections.
From 1953 to 1967, under the leadership of M. Lluïsa Serra, the collection grew even more. They bought new artworks and received gifts from Menorcan painters. During this time, the museum also kept archaeological finds from important sites. These included places like Naveta d'Es Tudons, Rafal Rubí naveta, Talatí de Dalt, Fornàs de Torelló, and the basilicas on Illa del Rey.
In 1975, the museum officially became the Museum of Menorca and joined the National Board of Museums. However, the building had problems and had to close. Five years later, in 1980, the Mahón city council gave an old Franciscan convent building to the government. This beautiful old building became the museum's new and permanent home.
In 1984, the government of the Balearic Islands started managing the museum. In 1986, part of the newly fixed-up building opened to the public. Fixing up the cloister (a special courtyard) of Saint Francis church brought new items to the museum. These included pottery from the 1600s and 1700s, and colorful tiles from the 1700s and 1800s.
The temporary exhibition rooms opened in 1995. Three years later, the main permanent rooms opened, and the museum's new home was officially celebrated.
Over the years, the museum's collection has grown a lot. This is thanks to the hard work of universities like Boston University, the University of Cagliari, and the University of the Balearic Islands. Many teams of archaeologists have also helped. Even items found by Margaret Murray during her digs in the 1930s were brought back from Cambridge to the museum.
Many gifts of items related to local traditions, art, and industry have also increased the collection. These came from different groups and private people, mostly around the late 1900s and early 2000s.
Since 2007, a team of archaeologists from the museum has been working at a site called Cornia Nou. This is an ancient Talayotic settlement near Mahón with old buildings and structures.
The island's council government has managed the museum since 2011. In July 2018, the museum reopened after more updates and the creation of a modern permanent exhibition.
The Museum's Historic Home
The museum is located in an old Franciscan convent. This building was built between the 1600s and 1700s. It is right next to the church of Saint Francis. The first convent here was built in the 1400s, but it was destroyed during a Turkish attack on Mahón in 1535. The building we see today was rebuilt later and updated in the early 1800s.
In the past, the ground floor of the convent had the reception, a meeting room, the kitchen, pantry, cellar, dining hall, and schools. The friars' bedrooms and other rooms were on the upper floors.
The Franciscans had to leave the convent in 1835. This happened after the church's property was taken by the government under Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. The building was then given to the city. Before it became the museum, it was used for many different things. It was a house of mercy, a sailing school, a public library, and even a high school.
The museum building has three floors that surround a beautiful squared-shaped cloister. This cloister has arches on the lower level and a wing to its south. It mixes different Classical orders with Baroque style elements. The temporary exhibition rooms and a meeting hall are on the ground floor. The first and second floors hold the museum's permanent exhibition.
Research and Learning at the Museum
The Museum of Menorca is a very important place for studying the Prehistory, History, and culture of Menorca. It has about 200,000 objects in its collection! There's also a special area where researchers can study these ancient items.
The museum also has a library that is open to everyone. It has a large collection of books and documents about Art and Archaeology. You can also find books, journals, and guides about different parts of Menorca's History, Ethnography (the study of cultures), Geography, and Culture. Many of the archaeological books are very specialized and hard to find anywhere else on the island.
The museum regularly publishes scientific papers about archaeology. They also create guides to their collections, catalogs for temporary exhibitions, and educational books. These publications help people learn more about the history of Menorca.
Fun Visits and Activities
The museum offers different ways to visit and learn:
- Guided visits: These are for groups and can be planned based on what the group wants to learn. They can include visits to the temporary rooms and the Cornia Nou archaeological site.
- Family visits: Families can explore the museum with help from the staff or ask for a guided tour.
- Group visits: The museum creates special visits for groups, either free or guided, depending on what the visitors need.
- School visits: For schools, the museum plans visits that focus on specific time periods or topics. They design routes for different age groups and student needs.
Besides visits, the Museum of Menorca organizes many activities for different groups. These include:
- Workshops for children
- Fun scavenger hunts (gymkhanas)
- Special "nights at the museum" events
- Specialized tours
- Lectures and presentations about artifacts
Main Publications by the Museum
The museum has published many important books and studies over the years. Here are a few examples:
- Algunas consideraciones sobre los Sepulcros Megalíticos de Menorca. Lluís Plantalamor Massanet. 1975-1976.
- Busto del Emperador Tiberio hallado en Mahón. Alberto Balil. 1985.
- El vaso de fondo alto menorquín. Estudio tipológico y decorativo. Jaime Sastre Moll. 1985.
- El jarrito picudo cicládico supuestamente hallado en Menorca. Celia Topp. 1985.
- El elemento púnico en la cultura talayótica. V.M. Guerrero, L. Plantalamor, C. Rita. 1986.
- L’arquitectura prehistòrica i protohistòrica de Menorca i el seu marc cultural. L. Plantalamor Massanet. 1992.
- Les taules a Menorca. Un estudi arqueoastronòmic. Peter Hochsieder i Doris Knösel. 1995.
- Les rajoles policromades del convent de sant Francesc (Maó). Cristina Andreu Adame. 1996.
- Cronologia de la prehistòria de Menorca (noves datacions de C14). Lluís Plantalamor Massanet i Marck Va Strydonck. 1997.
- Carta de Sever de Menorca. Anàlisi de les principals cites bíbliques. Josep Sastre Portella. 2000.
- Biniai Nou. El megalitisme mediterrani a Menorca. Lluís Plantalamor i Josep Marquès. 2001.
- El sepulcre d’Alcaidús. El megalistisme de Menorca en el context de la Mediterrània occidental. Lluís Plantalamor Massanet i Josep Marquès Moll. 2003.
- Talatí de Dalt 1997–2001. 5 anys d’investigació a un jaciment talaiòtic tipus de Menorca. G. Juan Benejam, J. Pons Machado i altres. 2005.
See also
In Spanish: Museo de Menorca para niños
