Investment of 1.7 million euros in the Montuïri Ecomuseum to bring the Balearic Sports Museum there

MontuïriThe improvements to convert the Ecomuseu del Molinar de Montuïri into the Centre d'Interpretació de l'Esport a les Illes Balears (CIEIB) will cost 1.7 million euros, to be paid by the Balearic Government from the insularity fund. The works, in principle, will be completed in 2027.

The initiative, explained by ARA Balears in February, which was agreed upon by the Montuïri City Council and the Balearic Government in discussions since the beginning of the legislature, took its first administrative step yesterday. The mayor of Montuïri, Antoni Miralles, and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Bauzá from Montuïri, formalized the signing of the agreement for the cession of the municipal infrastructure for a period of 40 years.

In this way, the green light is given to the comprehensive completion of the rehabilitation works so that the space can host the Sports Museum, in what will be one of the first major services to be decentralized from the city.

In this regard, at the signing of the agreement, Jaume Bauzá specifically highlighted that "Pla de Mallorca, the heart of our island, has the same right to host relevant and top-tier infrastructures". Thus, he added that "we are taking the culture and sporting legacy from the Balearic Islands Velodrome and bringing it here, to Montuïri, which means the exhibition space will be tripled and will go from 220 square meters to 600 square meters, breathing life into an emblematic building that was currently underutilized". The minister pointed out, in this vein, that "this is the way forward: zero land consumption within an infrastructure that we already have built, and reactivation of the rural areas and local pride". "We are demonstrating the value of efficient management: we are recovering and giving a top-tier museum project to an emblematic building, and we are doing so under the premise of zero land consumption".

The minister announced that once the renovation works are completed, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports will be responsible for the maintenance of the facilities and the building.

For his part, Antoni Miralles recalled that "the construction of this building began more than twenty years ago and, unfortunately, that work was never fully completed". He valued that, given the building's structural shortcomings and deficiencies, the signed agreement "will allow the completion of the building's works and its definitive availability to all citizens under the conditions the town deserves". Finally, he highlighted that "there will be shared spaces between the Centre for the Interpretation of Balearic Sport and the Town Hall, which will ensure that the municipality and the citizens of this town can also continue to use this facility as an open and useful space for the entire community".

The museum

The new center will allow a legacy of more than 200 objects related to the history of Balearic sport, permanent monographic collections –such as that of the rider Lluís Salom–, and a philatelic exhibition of nearly 5,000 stamps to be exhibited in optimal conditions.

Likewise, the new facilities will enhance the Sports Library. Created in 2001, it has a bibliographic collection and a press archive of more than 13,000 volumes, a figure that places it among the five most important specialized sports libraries in the entire State.

Government sources indicate that the project will serve to promote the Pla region, "and will highlight its complementary offer and its extensive network of rural paths, ideal for the practice of cycle tourism and hiking, which will thus achieve effective de-seasonality of tourism thanks to local roots and identity".

Until now, the Center for the Interpretation of Sport was located at the Velòdrom Illes Balears, in Palma. However, this space had become too small and inadequate to properly house and display the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions that showcase the achievements of Balearic sport.