Alicante Museums on the Costa Blanca in Spain

Alicante Museums

There always more Alicante Museums that are being added to the already large collection in Alicante. There are all sorts of museums, from bullfighting to the Museum of the Bonfires. Also, the MARQ archaeological museum and the Gravina Fine Arts museum (MUBAG); the Museo de Belenes (Nativity Scene museum); the Pozos de Garrigós (Water Museum) and the permanent exhibitions at the Lonja de Pescado and at the Archivo Municipal.

Alicante Municipal Museum Casa de la Asegurada
The building called La Asegurada was built during the 17th century and has had numerous uses and users throughout the years. It has been a Prison, an artillery storehouse, school of commerce, city hall, municipal granary and many more things. Now, it contains the a 20th Century collection of Art, given to the city by the artist Eusebio Sempere in 1976. The main part of the collection comprises of works by major artists of the Spanish fifties generation, like Alfaro, Canogar, Chillida, Mompó, Saura, Tàpies, Zobel and Viola, and even some avant-garde art such as Gris, Miró, Picasso, etc.

Alicante Bullfighting Museum
The Alicante Bullfighting Museum shows a full-time display devoted to the most fsmoud local bullfighters, like Vicente Blau, Francisco Antón, José María Manzanares and Luis Francisco Esplá among others. The museum also has a library, a conference room an exhibition lounge, aswell as an audiovisual room for discussion groups, slide shows and talks about bullfighting.

Alicante Museum of the Bonfires
The Hogueras Museum is situated in the Casa de la Festa building, where two main streets, Rambla de Méndez Núñez and Teniente Álvarez Soto meet. The museum is newly opened, and is devoted to Alicante´s most popular festivals, like the Hogueras de San Juan. There are many photographs from the years gone by, the so-called Ninots indultats, or Saved Statues, an exhibition of cultural costumes, advertising posters, etc. as well as an audio-visual hall.

Alicante Fish Market Museum
It was originally an exhibition hall in 1992, it was then enlarged in December 2000, this strabge building with obvious Arabic influences dates back to the early 20th century, it was designed by the engineer Próspero in the Historicist style. Once a fish market, it became an important sector of the port installations in the so-called Zona de Poniente. It is very tall and long, which makes is perfect for the larger art exhibitions and alternative artistic, charitable, festivals and literary events.

Alicante Provincial Archaelogical Museum
Situated in the old Hospital San Juan de Dios and built in 1930, the land takes up almost 9,000m2. The hugely valuable collection kept here includes 81,000 pieces dating anywhere from the Stone Age to Medieval times, one of the most important pieces being the Lady of Guardamar from the Iberian settlement of Cabezo Lucero. In May 2002 new features were added, like new exhibition rooms, halls guided tours on request and increased access for the handicapped.