IS

Outlook

	The Terracotta Museum, a first class cultural facility; a point of reference in the world of ceramics in Catalonia
	Xavier Rocas Director of the Terracotta Museum
	The museum’s headquarters are located in the Terracotta building, one of the oldest ceramic tiling industries in Bisbal d'Empordà. Founded in 1928, the industrial-style building exhibits a whole host of characteristic architectural elements: ponds to strain the earth, chimneys, ovens… elements integrated within the museum’s discourse, making the building one of the most extraordinary examples of industrial archaeology.
Phases 1 and 2 (2009) The work being done this year at the museum includes, amongst many other aspects, the demolition and reconstruction of the warehouse destined to become the storage area for the museum's collection; the renovation and structural improvement of those warehouses not currently being used as exhibition spaces the construction of a new administrative floor and the reorganisation of the museum entrance. The current offices are being turned into internal museum spaces, which are expected to be used for, amongst other purposes, services such as a restoration workshop and a Bisbal ceramics documentation centre. The remaining warehouses in the facility will be used for a temporary exhibition hall, a projection room and a relaxation-cafeteria zone. Outside, a new cloister should allow part of the museum to give to an open air space. The floor space being worked on is 2,272.4 m2. Phase 3 (2010) The phase planned for next year includes the completion of renovations on the new museum entrance, which needs to become one of the museum’s main attractions. Currently, the museum’s location means it cannot really be seen from the street; however, when the transformation is completed, the front of the museum will be more than 30 metres high. Work on access to the museum is also planned to include an entrance pavilion with a construction system and ceramic wall tiling specially designed for the museum. This tiling will accompany the visitor from the outside into the entrance, as if it were a ceramic wing.	The museum was opened by the local authority in 1991 and partially remodelled in 1998 to incorporate a temporary exhibition hall, a projection room, an educational workshop and the exhibition rooms where the collection is on display. The permanent exhibition is conceived as a representative sample of the collection in the museum’s care and contains more than eight thousand objects. The expository discourse reflects the remarkable importance of the tile, pottery, ceramic wall tiling, and decorative and artistic ceramic collections, but also informs about other, more technical aspects, such as an explanation of the artisan and industrial processes of ceramics manufacture. At the moment the Bisbal Museum is temporarily closed to the public as expansion and restoration work begins on the building; a radical transformation that will mark the development of the institution. Some of the previously unused spaces are being renovated, others are being demolished, the exhibition space is being expanded with new buildings, a completely new museographic project is being carried out Amongst the stipulations underpinning the proposals were that the architecture’s character should respect that of the original building, the building should be functional, both from the perspective of the movement of visitors and the museum’s own activities; it should be possible to use the different spaces at the same time, in such a way that the new museum should have no structural limitations, and, of course, to save on building costs. It is worth pointing out that, with this work, the Terracotta Museum will meet all the conditions necessary to re-confirm it as the most important ceramic museum in Catalonia, housed in 7,636 m2 of floor space and under a 4,851 m2 roof. The expansion of the Terracotta will, beginning with the shaping of a new façade, allow the monumentalization of the museum’s outer shell, which will make it far more consistent with its current contents and will increase its capacity for self-promotion and attracting visitors. It will also be an opportunity to renew the presentation, the discourse and improve the overall services on offer. In addition, it will fit in better with the Science and Technology museums system; a system where all the museums are based in industrial buildings. Today, the Bisbal d’Empordà Terracotta Museum is the only institution in the Girona region dedicated to the preservation, conservation and diffusion of cultural and heritage material linked to ceramics. In this sense, the museum represents for the Bisbal d’Empordà ceramic industry and the Girona region as a whole, a first class symbol of the sector and it is, without doubt, the most high profile cultural venture in the city.