The rehabilitation and museization of Palau Maricel will update one of the most emblematic buildings of Sitges

The project for the integral reform, rehabilitation, restoration and museization of Palau de Maricel is a key element in the Mandate Plan (2015-2019) that acts as a driving force of the government of Sitges. The project, developed by the Sitges Heritage Consortium with the support of the City Council, has a double objective: to rehabilitate and restore the building and adapt it as a center for activities and temporary exhibitions at an international level.

For the Councilor for Culture, Traditions and Festivities, Rosa Tubau, it is very important to update the cultural heritage of the city, because "we speak of an action that will allow to suppress the architectural barriers, to establish the necessary services for plans of emergencies and the necessary air conditioning, and also for museisation and rehabilitation of the ornamental elements of Palau Maricel. Obviously, after one hundred years of construction, we need a comprehensive intervention like the one we will do, and for this purpose we allocate 1,700,000 euros for the task. " 

The mayor of Sitges, Miquel Forns, says that the structural reform in the Palau Maricel "will be financed mainly by the City Council of Sitges with the help of the Diputació de Barcelona and other administrations, if we can. Basically, however, the financing will come from the City Council at a time when we can financially do it and at a time when we consider ourselves to be a museum building and that it can also host temporary exhibitions. "

The structural reform has a total budget of 2.5 million euros and will consist of a substantial integral improvement of the building, its public use and patrimonial protection. In this sense, the action contemplates the restoration of the patrimonial elements; the rehabilitation of the facade and the covers; the redefinition of entries and of circulations; the suppression of architectural barriers by means of the installation of mechanical elevators, and the improvement of the internal circuits. At the same time, the works will be a museographic adaptation of the building, which will allow the organization of medium format exhibitions.

History: The architectural ensemble of Maricel 

Maricel's architectural ensemble is part of the historical and artistic heritage of Sitges. It was built between 1910 and 1918 as the residence of the American industrialist, collector and philanthropist Charles Deering (1852-1927) and palace to conserve and showcase his art collection. The creator of the project was the engineer and art critic Miquel Utrillo.

In 1921, Deering took all the art collections and left the closed buildings that, upon his death, passed on to his heirs. In 1935, the Board of Museums rented Palau def Maricel and in 1954 it was acquired the Town Hall of Sitges. The Diputació de Barcelona bought the wing of the Sarcophagus and the Maricel Museum in 1969, and in 1973 it acquired Can Rocamora.

Maricel is one of the most characteristic architectural and artistic examples of Noucentisme, one of Sitges's most emblematic buildings and part of the cultural life of the city since its inception.