He Navarre Museum will be partially closed for a year from November 25 due to construction work improve energy efficiencywhose maximum completion date is October 31, 2025.
THE General Directorate of Culture of the Government of Navarre-Prince de Viana Institution On November 7, Construcciones Leache SL was awarded the execution of the works to improve the energy efficiency of the Navarre Museumaccording to a project developed by the architect María del Olmo Íñigo, for an amount of 2,015,786.71 euros, VAT included.
This action is part of the sustainable projects of maintenance and rehabilitation of historical heritage for tourist useof the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU.
He Navarre Museum It is a public building, owned by the Government of Navarra, which was declared a historical and artistic monument by Decree 474/1962 of March 1, 1962. It has the status of Asset of Cultural Interest and a total area of almost 7,500 square meters.
Occupies the site of what In the 16th century it was the former Hospital of Notre-Dame de Miséricordein a building designed for this purpose in 1950 by the architect of the Príncipe de Viana Institution, José Yárnoz Larrosa.
On June 24, 1956, it opened its doors to the public.. Between 1987 and 1990 it underwent a “major renovation”, carried out by the Barcelona architectural firm Garcés & Soria, in which no air conditioning system was installed.
In recent years, “it has become more evident that Their facilities do not have the required environmental conditions. for the use for which they are intended.” With “particular intensity in summer, when temperatures are reached inside that are contrary to both labor legislation and the environment necessary for the collections exhibited and kept” .
At the same time, “they cause poor quality of the visit, because the Museum is forced to close some of its rooms during the hottest months“. For this reason, and “taking into account the environmental and budgetary sustainability of public services”, the Museum has been working in recent years on an energy efficiency project “which allows both the improvement of climatic conditions for staff , visitors and cultural assets, such as maintaining adequate standards of sustainability”.
With this in mind, the work which will now begin will aim to respond to “the improvement of the hygrothermal behavior and energy efficiency of the museum of the building with a global and unitary vision”, by undertaking actions considered “essential and priority”, such as the thermal insulation of the roof of the exhibition wing and the office building or the replacement of the exterior carpentry with new ones with “better features” which include a sun protection system.
Before the start of the work phase, the The Navarre Museum team must undertake a preparatory phase of internal preventive conservation technical works aimed at protecting the works of art found in the rooms and allowing temporary storage areas there.
PARTIAL AND TEMPORARY CLOSURE
Taking into account the characteristics and deadlines of the two phases of work to be undertaken, the General Directorate of Culture-Prince de Viana Institutionaccording to Museum officials, took the decision to close the permanent exhibition on the first to fourth floors to the public while the work was carried out.
This measure was assessed as “the only possible one for ensure deadlines are met and minimize the risks that an intervention of this type poses for the museum collection.
Closure will affect general public access to exhibition halls from the first to the fourth floor (from Romanization to contemporary art), which will be closed from November 25 for approximately one year.
Educational activity will continue to be monitored engaged until the Christmas holidays with educational centers. The work will not affect public access to the building, which will be free during the period the permanent exhibition is closed.
This closure will not affect continuity of the public activity of the Museum. In 2024, the exhibitions “Shadows of Light” by José Ramón Anda can continue to be visited in the chapel and “Luna en el agua” in the temporary exhibition room. The exhibition ‘Seve Urrutia. The art of cutting’, in room 3.8, and ‘Zaragüeta. Pamplona Photographic Studio 1885-1960’, in room 4.2, will be open until Sunday November 24.
Current 2025 The Navarre Museum will continue to offer its plan of temporary exhibitions on the ground floor and in the chapel, and will maintain its cultural programming in the meeting room and the belvedere, as well as the attention paid to educational centers through its workshops and dramatized or guided tours.
Regarding the permanent exhibition, this will be limited to Prehistorywith the recently inaugurated Gigantes de Piedra room and a new museographic configuration in the Archeology room in the basementcurrently closed for renovation work, which will be available from mid-December.
The recently recovered and acquired Pompelo’s robed statue will be moved to the museum’s interior rooms continue scientific analyzes on its material aspects, in addition to tackling studies of an interpretive, stylistic and chronological dimension.
Once these studies have been carried out, the piece will be exhibited to the public again in a room fitted out for this purpose on the ground floor throughout 2025.
THE precise date of reopening of the exhibition halls permanent “will be determined once the work is completed and will be communicated as soon as possible”.
