From old 3D cinema to a new center for interactive experiences. This is the journey of the old IMAX building in Port Vell, which this Monday, September 28, will be reborn as a new leisure and culture space. In a way, however, the history of this building is also the journey of a Barcelona that has changed over time: from a city that recovered its seafront thanks to the Olympic Games and discovered three-dimensional cinema in the nineties, to a city where interactive experiences have gained ground to become a new way of bringing culture to the public.
The first to open this new stage will be a character also very linked to the city: Andrés Iniesta. Despite being originally from Fuentealbilla (Albacete), the player has left a deep mark on the history of Barcelona football, from when he joined La Masia del Barça at just 12 years old until he left in 2018. Now, this new interactive experience installed in the old IMAX building proposes a journey through the life and career of the emblematic footballer.
An experience that does not want to limit itself to reviewing the multiple titles and great goals of his career, but also seeks to bring the visitor closer to the person behind the footballer. And to do so, moreover, in a physical way: with a proposal that can not only be observed, but also experienced and touched, with interactive spaces that invite the visitor to be part of the journey.
Iniesta Experience. The Inner Game will, therefore, be the first experience of this new stage of the old IMAX, which for the next few years will function as a center for interactive exhibitions. A stage, however, with an end date: the future reform of the Moll d'Espanya to make the Liceu Mar a reality will completely transform this area of Port Vell.
While this reform does not arrive, the old cinema building —unused for almost a decade, until it temporarily reopened in late 2023 as a dissemination center for the America's Cup— begins this new stage with Stoneweg Culture, the cultural division of the global alternative investment platform Stoneweg. The group is also responsible for other cultural projects in the Catalan capital, such as the Palau Martorell or, more recently, Sala Parés, and is preparing a new life for another emblematic cinema in the city: the old Cinema Comèdia, which will become the headquarters of the future Carmen Thyssen Barcelona Museum. In addition, the first exhibition in the former IMAX space, Iniesta Experience. The Inner Game, is also a Stoneweg Culture production, co-curated with Never Say Never (NSN), the company co-founded by Andrés Iniesta.
When the future arrived at Port Vell with IMAX
To understand the new stage of the old IMAX in Port Vell, however, one must go back to the 90s, when Barcelona was experiencing one of the great transformations of its recent history. The city had just been chosen to host the 1992 Olympic Games and was preparing to show itself to the world: new neighborhoods were born, streets and buildings changed their appearance, but the city's relationship with its coastline also transformed.
It was then that Port Vell, historically linked to port and fishing activity, became a new leisure and promenade area, where new facilities linked to culture and entertainment were installed, such as L'Aquàrium, Maremagnum and also the IMAX cinema. The construction of the new cinema, however, was not exempt from political debate: Mayor Pasqual Maragall and the leader of the opposition, Miquel Roca Junyent, had disagreements about the advisability of moving the project forward.
Finally, however, the cinema ended up being built by architects Enric Soria and Jordi Garcés, who gave it its characteristic hexagonal shape, and it opened its doors in 1995 to host a new technology: the IMAX system, first launched in Osaka (Japan) in the 70s. A technology that, at that time, represented a complete novelty and a leap forward into the future. It was the first IMAX cinema in Spain and also incorporated rooms with 3D technology, which allowed creating a sensation of depth and bringing images closer to the viewer.
However, what in the 90s seemed like a window to the future, over the years ceased to be exceptional. 3D lost that aura of novelty and the technology that had made IMAX a revolutionary experience began to be increasingly accessible outside of large theaters. This is how, in 2014, the IMAX at Port Vell closed. Since then, the building, of about 2,500 square meters, remained empty for almost a decade, without a defined use and with an uncertain future. Over time, its demolition was even considered. But the change of orientation of Port Vell would end up opening the door to a new opportunity for the old IMAX.
The precedent of the America's Cup
Almost nine years after its closure, the building reopened its doors at a time when Barcelona was once again looking towards the sea: the city was preparing to host the America's Cup in 2024. A year earlier, in 2023, the old IMAX reopened as a dissemination center for the America's Cup with the America's Cup Experience—promoted by the company AC House Barcelona, with the support of Stoneweg—, a proposal that recovered the building and that, like the original IMAX, also opted to combine technology and experience, with immersive rooms.
The objective was to bring the public closer to the secrets of a competition considered the oldest sporting event in the world, with more than a century of history. To make this possible, about seven million euros were then invested in the recovery of a space that had been in disuse for almost a decade.
That stage, however, also had an expiration date. In 2025, the concession granted by the Port of Barcelona for the America's Cup Experience came to an end, and the building once again raised the question of its future. The answer has once again come from Stoneweg, which had already participated in promoting the America's Cup interpretation center and is now committed to giving continuity to the space with a new proposal based on exhibitions and interactive experiences. To adapt it to this new function, the building has also been renovated again, and thus, for example, the old stands have disappeared to turn the interior into a large open-plan space, more suitable for this type of experience.
To launch this new life for the old IMAX cinema, however, a new concession was needed. And this arrived in December 2025, when the Board of Directors of the Port of Barcelona renewed the concession for the use of the space to AC House Barcelona SL, a company then already under the management of Stoneweg. The concession, valid until 2029, will allow the activity to continue "while progress is made in processing the future Liceu Mar," as stated in the agreements of the Port of Barcelona.
Iniesta, first protagonist of the new stage
The first protagonist of this new stage will not be a technology, but a personality also linked to Barcelona: Andrés Iniesta. The footballer arrived in the city at just 12 years old, when he joined La Masia, and it is from the Catalan capital that he has built a large part of the career that has made him one of the most recognized names in the history of Barça and Spanish football. Now, his life and career are the common thread of the first great experience that will occupy this new space.
The titles and goals are there, including the already emblematic one from the 2010 World Cup final, but the exhibition aims to go beyond the images everyone knows and bring visitors closer to the person behind the footballer: the pressure, the expectations, the doubts, the vulnerability, and the ability to overcome difficult moments. “It’s not just sport,” emphasize those from Stoneweg —which has produced the exhibition jointly with NSN, the company co-founded by Iniesta himself—, who dedicate one of the eight thematic spaces to mental health and pressure management.
The proposal combines scenography, audiovisual content, technology, and original objects from the footballer’s career, but also seeks visitor participation. In one of the spaces, for example, visitors can kick a real ball towards a goal. Overall, the objective, as Iniesta himself stated in the presentation video, is for visitors to “enjoy this beautiful journey and get emotional,” assuring that visitors will even be able to discover new facets of his life.
More lives for the old IMAX
Iniesta will be, however, only the first protagonist of this new stage of the old IMAX. The exhibition, which opens its doors this Monday, September 28 —with tickets starting from 18 euros for adults and 13.50 euros for children—, can be visited in Barcelona until January 10 and, afterwards, will travel to other cities. When it finishes, Stoneweg’s objective is to continue filling the old IMAX with new interactive experiences that combine technology and physical participation. A determined commitment to give new life to a cultural space in Port Vell, an area that is also undergoing a complete transformation, with the renewal of the Maremagnum’s offerings and the remodeling of L’Aquàrium.
The organizers are already preparing the next experiences that will occupy the space, an activity that can continue until 2029, when the concession approved by the Board of Directors of the Port of Barcelona ends. By then, the forecast is that the project for the future Liceu Mar —the second headquarters of the Gran Teatre del Liceu— will have advanced: in fact, the five finalist architect teams for the project have already been selected, with the aim that works can begin between late 2029 and 2030.
To build this new facility, however, the Moll d’Espanya will have to be transformed, an action that will also entail, according to the latest forecasts, the disappearance of the old IMAX to reform this entire area. For now, the project foresees an investment of about 50 million euros and a 9,000 square meter building, with a 900-seat hall and various spaces for creation and cultural activity. This is how the old IMAX will face a new chapter in its long journey: in just over three decades, it will have gone from 3D cinema to interactive experiences and, with the Liceu Mar, to opera, at the same time that Port Vell and the city have been transforming around it.