Albert Forés: “The Museu Marítim de Mallorca wants society to look back at the sea”

The sea is an inseparable part of the history, culture and identity of the Balearic Islands. For centuries, the islands have been closely linked to the Mediterranean through trade, fishing, navigation and boatbuilding.

With the aim of preserving and sharing this legacy, the Museu Marítim de Mallorca continues working to bring maritime heritage closer to society.

On the program Passion for the Sea, we welcomed the museum’s director, Albert Forés, to our studio. He spoke about the present and future of an institution that aims to become an open space where the history of the sea can be discovered, understood and enjoyed by all visitors. “People need to lose their fear of museums. Today they are no longer boring places or spaces only for experts. They are interactive environments, with digital content designed for all audiences,” he explained.

The museum currently has two main locations: the Museum of the Sea in Sóller, focused on local maritime history and the town’s relationship with fishing and trade. “It’s a space very much centered on the history of the municipality, its fishermen, the orange trade and the relationship with North Africa,” said the director. The other is the Ses Voltes headquarters in Palma, located within the city walls. “Each room explores a different theme: from the first settlers to the most recent arrivals in Mallorca, including the great commercial era of the Mallorcan fleet sailing to the Americas and the fishing sector,” Forés explained.

The Ses Voltes site, which reopened only a few months ago after an adaptation process, is designed as a dynamic space with educational activities, temporary exhibitions and inclusive programs for a wide range of audiences. “For now the exhibition is static, but we have a temporary exhibition room and we aim to create at least one new exhibition every year,” he noted.

The museum also places strong emphasis on education, adapting its content to different visitor profiles and developing initiatives focused on social inclusion. “We have a very strong educational team and we work extensively on the axis of social inclusion,” said Forés. He also highlighted the introduction of assistive listening systems: “Last week we carried out tests with people with hearing difficulties to ensure they could follow the explanations without any problems.”

In addition to the permanent collection, the museum organizes temporary exhibitions. The next one, scheduled for this summer, will explore the mythology of the sea and the Mediterranean coastline.

Among the most notable pieces in the collection, Forés highlights a reproduction of a 13th-century Mediterranean medieval coca, a historic vessel donated by the family of Pastor Quijada. “It’s a very emotional piece because Pastor Quijada was a key figure in the museum’s history. He was president of the Friends of the Maritime Museum and the first director of the museum before the museum even existed,” Forés recalled.

Other highlights include archaeological objects such as an inkwell recovered from a medieval shipwreck off the coast of Calvià, as well as traditional boats restored from different parts of the Mallorcan coastline.

For the museum’s director, the project has a clear mission: to raise awareness of maritime heritage and awaken a renewed sensitivity toward the sea.

“The mission of the museum is for people to leave here seeing the sea in a different way,” Forés explained during the interview, emphasizing that the institution aims to open the door to many interests, from naval history and underwater archaeology to marine conservation and ship modeling.

Since its reopening in October, the Ses Voltes location has welcomed more than 4,000 visitors, while the Museum of the Sea in Sóller has received over 20,000 visitors during the same period, figures that reflect the growing interest in the maritime history of the islands.

For Forés, the public’s response confirms that the Balearic Islands needed a space dedicated to explaining their relationship with the sea: “Many people tell us it was about time Mallorca had a maritime museum.”