The Gas Museum will celebrate International Museum Day for the seventh consecutive year alongside the museums in Sabadell.

Five museums in Sabadell will join together for the seventh consecutive year to celebrate International Museum Day (IMD) together. This year, the celebration will run from Friday 18 May to Sunday 20 May and will consist of open days and free activities so that any members of the public can visit.

The programme was presented today by Montserrat Chacón, Councillor of Culture; David Alba, Director of the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Palaeontology; Joan Carles Sunyer, Director of the Fundació 1859 Caixa Sabadell; and Eva Buch, Director of Education and Heritage at the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation.

This year, the event includes a new graphic to announce the activities. It was created by the designers Maties Blanco and Cristina López from the Viver de l'Escola Illa de Sabadell, and guided by the five museums. It aims to visualise the concepts of culture, universality and the Sabadell museums. The new brand has been included in all the publications and a printed bag has been created.

The Jewel of the Museum

The participating museums—the Espai Cultura Fundació Sabadell 1859, the History Museum, the Art Museum, the Miquel Crusafont Palaeontology Museum and the Gas Museum—will exhibit the Jewel of the Museum, a unique item from the collection that can be visited in addition to the other exhibitions. The are the following:

Room and accessories belonging to Josep Busoms. At the Espai Cultura Fundació Sabadell 1859 (c. d’en Font, 25)
Andreu Castells i Peig (Sabadell, 1918-1987). 100 years since the birth of the author of L’art sabadellenc. At the Sabadell Art Museum (c. del Doctor Puig, 16)
ENIGMATIC! A golden jewel that is 2,600 years old. At the Sabadell History Museum (c. del Sant Antoni, 13)
A facsimile of the articles of association of the Sociedad Catalana para el Alumbrado por Gas from 1843. Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation historical archives. At the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation Gas Museum (pl. del Gas, 8)
Print of the skin of one of the last dinosaurs in Europe. At the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Palaeontology (c. de l’Escola Industrial, 23)

The Night of the Museums

The IMD also coincides with the Night of the Museums, when these centres remain upon until midnight. That is why, on Saturday 19 May in Sabadell, the itinerary “Cinco museos, cinco historias” (Five museums, five histories) will be held at 7 pm and 9 pm. This includes a tour of the five centres where anecdotes and strange facts about each institution and the items they keep will be recited. The itinerary will start inside the Gas Museum and prior registration is not required.

The Night of the Museums is held throughout Europe and aims to make the museums more accessible to the general public, especially the younger members of public. It also wants to create a network of European museums at a joint, festive and friendly event.

Children’s workshops on Sunday

Finally, to conclude this weekend of museum festivities, on Sunday 20 May, from 11 am to 2 pm, at the Racó del Campanar, the five participating museums will organise children’s workshops that are designed for a family audience. The are the following:

At the Espai Cultura Fundació Sabadell 1859: “Drawbots”. A creative technology workshop for families, with simple materials that follow the “do-it-yourself” philosophy. Using a plastic cup, markers and a small battery motor, you can construct a robot that paints the area it moves on.
At the Sabadell Art Museum: Jigsaws at the Art Museum. Everybody is invited to play with some of the main paintings of the exhibition at the Sabadell Art Museum (SAM) and the Casa Turull by doing jigsaws, drawing and colouring.
At the Sabadell History Museum: Prehistoric jewellery workshop. Children can experiment with how to make a hole in the jewel of a necklace and how the polishing technique can refine and shape the pieces of jewellery.
At the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation Gas Museum: You can decorate a magnet with modernist motifs that children can customise and take home with them.
At the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Palaeontology: Create your own dinosaur! Children can make dinosaur masks that they can decorate however they like. They can choose what they like the most and pretend to be palaeontologists and artists by adding some colour.