The Museums of Sitges register a 5.4% increase in visitors compared to before the pandemic

The Museums of Sitges received a total of 68,787 people in 2022, 5.4% more than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. This is one of the significant data collected in the 2022 Report, presented this Wednesday to the General Council of the Sitges Heritage Consortium.

The 68,787 people who accessed the Cau Ferrat Museum, the Maricel Museum, the Maricel Palace and the Stämpfli Foundation last year represent a growth of 55.5% compared to 2021, a year with notable restrictions due to the pandemic. But the most relevant reading is that they represent 5.4% more than in 2019 (which were 65,208 people) and a slight increase compared to 2018 (68,111).

Few museums in the country recorded better data in 2022 – a year that began with a high presence of the coronavirus – than in 2019. The commitment to the dissemination of the collections, the programming of activities and the educational proposals, combined to the attraction that registered Sitges as a tourist destination, they allowed this milestone to be reached. 2017 remains the year with the highest number of visits, thanks to the central exhibition of the Ramon Casas Year. Also in 2015, just after the reopening of the Cau Ferrat Museum and the Maricel Museum, record numbers were recorded.

As usual, the vast majority of visitors were the joint access to the Cau Ferrat Museum and the Maricel Museum (46,746 people), the Palau de Maricel received 17,484 and the Stämpfli Foundation, 4,557. In 2019, the Cau Ferrat and Maricel museums received more visitors (52,198), as the temporary exhibitions of that year were held for a good part of the year, while in 2022 it was inaugurated in the autumn

The Stämpfli Foundation is the facility that has registered a more significant percentage increase, since in 2019 it received 1,851 people. The increase in the number of visitors to these rooms is one of the objectives set by the Museums of Sitges and, in this sense, it has carried out several complementary initiatives to the exhibition program of the Foundation, as is the case of the programthe visitor, with shared inputs enabled. Palau de Maricel also registered a significant increase in visitors last year compared to 2019, which were 11,159.

By geographic area, the largest number of visitors comes from the rest of Europe (14,581 people); the recovery of tourism in 2022 was also reflected in museum visitors. The next geographical visitor is the Catalan (without counting Sitges or Barcelona), which was 14,018 people. The only source of visitors that decreased compared to 2021 is that from Barcelona city, since the previous year, the dynamics of the pandemic marked a greater movement of domestic and local tourism, which did not involve travel.

Almost 7,500 schoolchildren. The balance of 2022 at the Museums of Sitges leaves other relevant and significant data, such as the number of schoolchildren who participated in the educational program: 7,494, from 148 educational centers throughout Catalonia. The three counties of Penedès have recorded the highest number of school trips, followed by Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès and Vallès Occidental. At the same time, the Sitges Museums 2022 program included 21 family workshops, which attracted 792 children.

In 2022, the Maricel Museum incorporated a new space aimed at children: the Family Corner, where the little ones can demonstrate their artistic skills, through different educational and creative proposals.

Also this past year, another educational initiative aimed at the younger public was launched: the curation of exhibitions, aimed at the students of the Artistic Baccalaureate of the IES Joan Ramon Benaprès and which will reap its fruits this 2023.

For its part, the Edunauta Passport project, in collaboration with the Department of Education, has allowed 4th grade Primary students from the different educational centers in Sitges to participate in games of tracks in our museums, with the aim of to approach the local heritage and its collections.

5 exhibitions. In 2022, the Museums organized five exhibitions of different profiles or orientations (Gaudí & Trencadís, Artists committed to the Republic, Pepito Zamora, a magazine artist, Museums grow i catch the light), to which you must addMy exhibition, at the Stämpfli Foundation.

Assignment of 23 works. The collections of the Sitges Museums regained their external projection in 2022, with the participation in different temporary relief exhibitions. 23 works were loaned to 8 exhibitions: Barcelona, ​​Girona, Torroella de Montgrí, Valencia - Zaragoza, Malaga, Granada and Toronto (Canada).