The visitor centre is a new tourism resource for Berguedà, notable for its innovative design - attractive and integrated with its natural setting
The Riutort Petroleum Mine has opened a new visitor centre. The centre, which has received financial support from the MINER and FEDER funds, and from the Generalitat of Catalonia, was born out of a patent willingness to improve this tourism resource located in Alt Berguedà. A small but original visitor centre has been built that aims to explain about the only petroleum mine open to the public in Catalonia , located at Guardiola de Berguedà, a municipality that is a member of the Mining Route Consortium.

An innovative and attractive design
The new visitor centre has been conceived as a singular, high quality space. The chosen, innovative design was conceived and produced by Transversal Produccions Culturals in collaboration with the architect Àlex Quintín (a student of Norman Foster). The Riutort Petroleum Mine Visitor Centre is a tubular structure measuring 10 metres long and 45 metres wide, entirely wrapped in a smooth layer of stainless steel with a shiny, polished surface reflecting the natural setting of the visitor centre while at the same time integrating itself with its surroundings as much as possible. The space contains a system of panels of a modern design containing photographic and textual information as a complement to a guided visit of the mine's interior.

A new product to promote tourism
The Mining Route Consortium and the Guardiola town council's aim is to improve the quality of tourist products in their area of influence and to this end the Visitor Centre will provide out-of-hours information about opening times and information and contact numbers, while at the same time indicating that this is one of the most extraordinary cultural and mining tourist attractions in the Berguedà region. Related to the aim of improving quality and service, the structure is also supplied with a chemical toilet, something that further guarantees the continued cleanliness of the Riutort mine area.

The course “Science and the Public: Strategies for the Dissemination and Preservation of Scientific Heritage”, organised by the Complutense University in Madrid , took place at the Escorial from 4 th to the 9 th of September. The course reflected on ways to make heritage collections more relevant to society as a whole. Representing mNACTEC, Joan Muñoz, head of the Promotion and Exhibitions Department took part in conference sessions presenting strategies developed at the museum to both explain and promote its collections. His speech, “How to Display Collections with a Heritage Interest”, involved the participation of thirty students, people linked to the museum world and students from a wide range of academic backgrounds, from teachers to pedagogues and professionals in other areas.
Throughout the speech and in the round table discussion, he placed emphasis on putting in place a regional museum system and on the creation of a museum concept in which industrial heritage is the identifying factor.