The Sitges Museums open up heritage to everyone on the occasion of the European Heritage Days

The Sitges Museums are joining the European Heritage Days (EHD) for another year, which will be held in Catalonia from 9 to 11 October 2026. This year, the event has as its motto “Heritage at risk: reviving, resisting, reimagining” and focuses on the vulnerability of cultural heritage and the different ways to protect, conserve and transmit it to future generations.

Within this framework, the Sitges Museums have prepared a free program throughout the weekend, with proposals that invite you to approach heritage from different perspectives. Research, sensory experience, creativity, discovery of spaces and free access to museums will articulate three days of activities designed for diverse audiences.

The JEP also comes in a particularly intense week for the Sitges Museums, marked by the return to the public of the Lola Anglada Doll Collection, starting on October 8, and by an exhibition linked to the film Blue Velvet, by David Lynch, in collaboration with the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

Charles Deering and the Golden Age of Collecting

The JEP program will begin on Friday, October 9, at 6 p.m., in the Gothic Room of the Maricel Museum, with the conference The Golden Age of Collecting Hispanic Art in the United States, given by Ignasi Domènech, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at the Sitges Museums.

The session will allow us to delve into the heyday of Hispanic art collecting in the United States and the context in which major North American collectors showed a growing interest in this heritage. A look that will also serve to delve deeper into the figure of Charles Deering and situate his project in Sitges within this international phenomenon.

The conference is also part of the program of the exhibition Absences and Presences. Charles Deering Artists in the Banc Sabadell Art Collection, which can be visited at the Maricel Museum until October 25. Admission is free, with limited capacity.

Discovering Cau Ferrat through the senses

On Saturday, October 10, the Cau Ferrat Museum will take center stage, with a sensory visit that proposes discovering Santiago Rusiñol's house-workshop from a more intimate and experiential perspective.

Through the senses, participants will approach the spaces, collections and universe of Rusiñol in a leisurely experience that invites you to perceive and experience heritage in a different way.

The visits will take place at 11 am in Catalan and at 1 pm in Spanish. The activity is free, with a maximum capacity of 15 people per session and prior reservation through the website or at the reception of the Sitges Museums.

A family workshop to discover the magic of moving images

On Saturday, October 10, at 12 pm, the Sala Vaixells of the Palau de Maricel will host the family workshop The visual magic of optical effects: create your zoetrope, organized by the Sitges Museums in collaboration with the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

The activity will allow children to discover the origins of moving images through one of the most popular optical toys of the 19th century. Each participant will create their own zoetrope based on an animation inspired by the emblematic image of King Kong, linked to the Festival, and will be able to experience how a succession of images generates the illusion of movement.

The workshop is free and is aimed at children aged 6 to 12, with a capacity limited to 15 participants. Prior booking is required via the website or at the reception of the Sitges Museums.

Open Houses at the Museums and Guided Tours at the Palau de Maricel

On Sunday 11 October, on the occasion of the European Heritage Days, the Sitges Museums will hold an open day at the Cau Ferrat Museum, the Maricel Museum and the Stämpfli Foundation – Contemporary Art. Access will be free during the opening hours of each facility.

The day will be an opportunity to freely visit the collections and exhibitions and rediscover some of the main heritage and artistic spaces of the Sitges Museums.

The offer will be completed with free guided tours of the Palau de Maricel, one of the most emblematic buildings of Sitges' heritage, the result of the project promoted by the American collector Charles Deering and Miquel Utrillo. The tours will allow visitors to explore the rooms, terraces and viewpoints of the Palau and discover the history of the building, the richness of its spaces and the dialogue between art, architecture, landscape and the Mediterranean.

There will be sessions at 10 am in English, at 11 am and 12 pm in Catalan and at 1 pm in Spanish. The tours are free and require prior reservation through the Sitges Museums website or in person at reception.

The return of Lola Anglada's dolls

The celebration of the JEP will coincide with another of the most anticipated autumn events at the Sitges Museums. From October 8, the Espai Rocamora of the Maricel Museum will once again show the public a selection of the Lola Anglada Doll Collection.

The first presentation will bring together a selection of restored dolls from a set made up of more than 550 pieces from the 18th to the 20th centuries, made of materials such as wood, clay or porcelain. A heritage that allows us to get closer not only to the personal and creative universe of Lola Anglada, but also to the history of clothing, fashion and daily life from other eras.

The new proposal will have a permanent vocation and a rotating nature, so that the pieces on display will be renewed to gradually make the collection known and, at the same time, guarantee its necessary conservation conditions.

The universe of Blue Velvet arrives at the Sitges Museums

Also from October 8, and coinciding with the celebration of the 59th International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, the Espai Rocamora of the Maricel Museum will host AN EAR IN THE GRASS. Blue Velvet: A Journey into the World of David Lynch, a proposal that invites you to enter the universe of Blue Velvet, one of David Lynch's most emblematic films.

The proposal connects cinema and visual arts and offers an approach to the disturbing universe of one of Lynch's most outstanding film titles. It can be visited until October 18, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 7 pm, and arrives at the Sitges Museums with the collaboration of the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

During the days of the Festival, access will be free for attendees who present their ticket and for accredited people. For the rest of the public, the ticket will cost €5 and will allow you to visit both AN EAR IN THE GRASS. Blue Velvet: A Journey into the World of David Lynch and Dolls from the Lola Anglada Collection.

With this program, the Sitges Museums will focus on heritage, research, experiences, cinema and proposals for different audiences during these days. The European Heritage Days will thus become an opportunity to open up the spaces and collections to the public, rediscover them from new perspectives and highlight the importance of conserving, sharing and transmitting heritage.