Thirty years ago, when the Egyptian Museum of Barcelona was inaugurated, a new window to the world opened. There are spaces and institutions that broaden our perspectives, that teach us, make us grow and, often, allow us to look beyond our reality, beyond that daily life that frequently distances us from the real world, the one that lies beyond where ours ends.
In 1994, the first Egyptian Museum of Barcelona was inaugurated on Rambla de Catalunya, where a collection of 250 pieces was exhibited. A museum born from civil society, by personal initiative of its founder, Jordi Clos Llombart, who did not hesitate to share his passion with the people of Barcelona.
When he was very, very young, almost a child, he had to choose between archaeology and business, and he decided to be an entrepreneur. However, he never forgot his dream of being an archaeologist, and that is how he decided to open a museum of Egyptian archaeology in his city, Barcelona.
Currently, the Egyptian Museum exhibits a collection of more than 1,260 pieces and receives an annual average of more than 220,000 visitors, of which 35,000 are minors. In these thirty years, the museum has organized 94 itinerant exhibitions in different venues in Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Colombia, and China. These collaborations between institutions have contributed to projecting, through culture, the city of Barcelona to other countries.
In these three decades, the museum, as a cultural agent of the city, has welcomed a large number of Barcelona residents who have had some kind of experience in it.
In the mornings, the museum fills with schools; in the afternoons, adults arrive, from Barcelona or visitors from much more distant places, some even from Olot, to learn new content about history, archaeology, or the Egyptian language. It's beautiful to see this community of people who finish their day in the museum's classrooms behind closed doors. They gather to look beyond their routine, to try to better understand the current world or the past, and to enjoy what was left pending: studies or subjects they couldn't pursue. Others, younger, come to complement their university studies. All of them are the best students an institution can have: enthusiastic, passionate, serene. For them, a window that was closed when they were younger opens: doctors, accountants, engineers, librarians, professionals from various disciplines... people who couldn't study archaeology, but who are passionate about Pharaonic culture.
"The museum has placed Barcelona on the Egyptological map"The museum and the hundreds of activities organized annually have the capacity to make known other realities that existed and will never exist again. But they left us a strong cultural footprint of which, today, we are not completely aware. When you become aware of the social impact that an institution like ours has, with a solid academic vocation and a spirit of constant renewal, you understand the capacity a museum has to create vocations or transform peopleThe museum is a meeting point for different professionals in the sector, educators (all with degrees in History or Archaeology), teachers, users, and visitors.
In the latest social impact study carried out by the museum, it has been found that the children interviewed have increased their predisposition to read, to learn about other cultures, have gained self-confidence, and want to travel to other countries to learn about other cultures. Many of the adults interviewed, on the other hand, highlight that the museum has placed Barcelona on the Egyptological map, enriching the cultural offer of our city.
Every time a museum closes, a window to the world closes, and every time a new one opens, knowledge of it grows.