MADRID.- He Sorolla Museum, state-owned museum dependent on the culture Ministry from Spainannounced the temporary closure of the institution from October 1, 2024, due to the completion of the construction works. rehabilitation and expansion of the house museum.
The Ministry of Culture is investing a total of 6.5 million euros in this project, which has been under development since 2022. The renovated museum complex is scheduled to open in early 2026.
“The Sorolla Museum is immersed in a strategic movement of the first order. The works will allow the museum to maintain its original essence – the soul, the Sorolla house – and, at the same time, its personality will be enriched, since it will be able to offer new services, new spaces, and also new perspectives, dialogues and possibilities of enjoyment, to a wider and more diverse public, in accordance with the demands of contemporary society,” said the director of the Sorolla Museum, Enrique Varela, in a press release from the institution.
Remodeling of the museum
The extension-rehabilitation works, according to the Sorolla Museum, which are being carried out by the Cultural Infrastructure and Equipment Department, are divided into two phases. In the first phase, which is expected to be completed at the end of this year, the extension works are being carried out in some spaces adjacent to the museum, with a surface area of more than 2,050 square metres. This will be where new areas and services will be located, which the museum currently lacks or has but in a limited way.
These include new temporary exhibition halls, an assembly hall, a cultural goods warehouse, a restoration workshop and a loading dock.
The second phase of the works will begin on October 1st and will focus on the restoration of the Sorolla house. It will be a comprehensive intervention, both architecturally and in terms of facilities. The Sorolla Museum ensures that the works will be carried out preserving the values and the original character of the architecture and its spaces, considering the restoration of the historical elements of the house, the renovation of the facilities and the provision of environmental control systems to all areas where cultural assets are exhibited for better conservation of the same.
The project aims to improve the conditions of the historic building by highlighting its architectural heritage character and adapting its museum functionality by rationalising spatial uses, improving circulation, renovating or providing new facilities.
The aim is to make the maximum number of rooms available to the public, guaranteeing universal accessibility. In addition, work will be carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage on the comprehensive restoration of the museum’s gardens. All of this will allow the original spaces of what was Sorolla’s house and the painter’s studios to continue to fulfil their exhibition functions.
These works are the first to be carried out in the building’s more than 110-year history, as partial interventions had previously been carried out (in the 1940s, 1950s, 1980s and 2000s).
Summer Activities
In view of the temporary closure, the institution has scheduled a series of activities that will keep the institution alive during the summer months. For example, during the months of July and August the Sorolla Museum will celebrate the Summer nights, opening its doors on Thursdays until 10:30 p.m. for visitors to take part in an independent visit.
In addition, during the last two weekends before the museum closes, visitors will be able to enjoy extended opening hours at the institution. Opening hours will be until 10:30 p.m. on Fridays 20 and 27 September, and on Saturdays 21 and 28 September.
The Museum will host the temporary exhibition Sorolla in 100 objectswhich proposes an approach to the figure of Sorolla through one hundred micro-stories woven together through the materiality of the objects that surrounded his existence.
Visitors will also be able to reconstruct the dialogue between Sorolla and the Count of Villagonzalo in 1907 through the exhibition ‘An Unpublished Conversation’.
FUENTE: Europa Press
