Museums: Showcases of treasures

Created in 1927 by the Provincial Council to continue the work of the Archaeological Society of Pontevedra, from which it inherited an extraordinary collection of works of art and documents, the Museum of Pontevedra currently has more than 16,000 pieces, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, archaeological objects, coins, musical instruments, furniture, jewellery, etc. Its collections range from prehistory and antiquity to the 20th century, as well as numismatic, decorative arts, ethnography and naval collections.

It is made up ofsix buildings, all of which are located in the city of Pontevedra: the Ruins of San Domingos, vestiges of the Dominican convent of the same name that existed in the 14th-15th centuries; the Sarmiento Building, with collections of prehistoric and ceramic products, as well as an important collection of contemporary and Asian-Eastern art; the Castro Monteagudo Building, the museum's founding headquarters; the García Flórez Building, a large urban manor house from the end of the 18th century; the Fernández López Building, which houses mainly 19th and 20th century paintings; and the Sixth Building, inaugurated in 2013 and used for exhibitions, conferences and workshops.

The Quiñones de León Municipal Museum, located in the old Lavandeira manor house, was the result of a donation by the Marquis of Alcedo in 1924. With free admission, it houses an art section with more than 1,500 works of painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and applied arts; and has materials from a large number of sites in Vigo , Galicia and other parts of the peninsula . Its collection is of extraordinary interest for learning about the history of the city of Vigo from the 15th century to the present day.

One of its main attractions is its garden area, designed in the style of the great gardens of Baroque France at the end of the 19th century, and with six different parts: the entrance garden, the rose garden, the French garden, the English garden (known as the "tea meadow"), the sun terrace at the back and the wood. Among the great variety of exotic and ornamental plants that delight visitors, the presence of more than 200-year-old Japanese camellias stands out , a botanical treasure that makes it an essential stop on the Camellia Route in the province.

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MARCO), an art centre created to disseminate contemporary cultural proposals, is located in the heart of Vigo . The building that houses it, formerly the Palace of Justice and prison, has hosted numerous exhibitions of local and international artists of great prestige since 2002, which has made the museum centre a major reference point for Galician and international avant-garde art.

One of MARCO's main commitments is its educational programme, with visits and workshops for schoolchildren, activities for families, summer workshops for children, courses for adults, guided tours and artist workshops. Parallel and complementary activities to the exhibitions, such as seminars, concerts, conferences or film seasons, as well as the Library and Documentation Centre services, complete a rich offer aimed at creating and promoting cultural consumption habits among its visitors.

The Massó Museum is located in the facilities of the former Massó Hermanos cannery, near the port of Bueu and in the middle of the O Morrazo peninsula. The museum reviews the history of the emblematic factory and the entire industrial complex in this town and neighbouring Cangas, including the old whaling factory. It also bears witness to the fishing activity, the main protagonist of life in the beautiful seaside town in which it is located.

The wealth of the collection of navigational instruments, documents and books published between the 15th and 19th centuries, curious objects and models of historic ships that the Massó brothers, Gaspar, José María and Antonio, treasured was the starting point for a museum built on the oldest part of the factory. Today it remains a faithful witness of the maritime and industrial heritage of Galicia and allows us to approach the incredible world of the workers of the sea, free of charge.

The Galician Museum of the Sea, designed by the Italian architect Aldo Rossi and the Galician architect César Portela, is located in an old canning factory in Vigo, the Alcabre-Molino de Viento (1887). This 14,000 m2 centre, which opened to the public in 2002, has a garden, five refurbished warehouses, a square, a new building, a port where the aquarium is located and the lighthouse as a faithful companion of the Atlantic Ocean.

In a route that seeks diversity between the interior and exterior spaces, the museum has a free space for visitors to come into contact with the sea; and a permanent paid exhibition, focused on the economic and social history of the Galician fishing industry. In addition, in the aquarium we can learn about the ecosystems of the Galician estuaries, and the adjacent archaeological site will illustrate the exploitation of fishing resources since prehistoric times.

What was the first archaeological museum in Galicia is located in a strategic location, at the top of Mount Trega, an imposing watchtower 341 metres high that offers spectacular 360-degree views of the natural border between Galicia and Portugal, drawn by the river Minho at its mouth.

In the exhibition room of the Archaeological Museum of Monte Santa Trega (MASAT), founded in 1917, we can find an overview of the successive periods of the castro and the archaeological research work focused on the pre-Roman settlement of Santa Trega, dated between the 4th century BC and 1st century AD. In an overview from Prehistory and the Bronze Age to the Castros and the Roman period, we can see scrapers, Asturian picks, axes, cave engravings, tools and elements of worship and ornamentation.

The Verbum Museum in Vigo, also known as the House of Words, is located in a beautiful setting, near Samil beach.Designed by the Galician architect César Portela to be a cultural, recreational and informative space in which to actively participate in the exhibits through games, this interactive museum focuses on all areas related to human communication: languages, languages, words, letters, sounds, signs...

Organised into twenty-nine cubes, the four-storey structure is unified by a light box that crosses and connects them, like a set of Chinese boxes that contain one another. This entertainment space in Vigo houses a temporary exhibition hall, as well as an auditorium and a seminar room, in addition to organising interactive activities for schoolchildren, cultural associations, families and all kinds of visitors.