The success of Palau de Mar, converted into the nerve center of entrepreneurship and local history, is confirmed with the renewal of the concession to the Museu d'Història de Catalunya. The board of directors of the Port de Barcelona approved this Wednesday a ten-year extension for the museum. "The museum's location in the Palau de Mar highlights the historical heritage of the port and reinforces the quality cultural offer of Port Vell," remarks the port authority.
The board of directors has highly valued the trajectory of the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, inaugurated in this historic port building in 1996 with the aim of making known the history, culture, and image of Catalonia from its prehistoric beginnings to contemporary times. The ten-year extension of the concession to the Agència Catalana del Patrimoni Cultural, owner of the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, means that the new concession period will end in December 2034.
The Palau de Mar occupies the old General Trade Warehouses, built in 1881 to store goods arriving by sea in Barcelona. When engineer Mauricio Garrán designed them, he took into account the warehouses that proliferated in English ports during the industrial revolution. Hence the similarity with the famous docks of London or Liverpool. The warehouses were rehabilitated and transformed for the 1992 Olympics.
Over time, they have become the main remaining building of the 19th-century industrial port. For this reason, the port emphasizes, it is especially suitable for hosting a facility like the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, whose mission highlights all of this.