Museo do Mar Restaurante

The Museo do Mar in Vigo is a cultural and scientific center devoted to the sea and maritime history. It opened in June 2002 at Punta do Muíño in the parish of Alcabre and is run by the Galician cultural authority, the Vigo Free Trade Zone Consortium, and the city administration. The complex's architecture, designed by César Portela and the late Pritzker Prize winner Aldo Rossi, is modeled on the structure of an old cannery in the region. The ensemble consists of a main building, an annex reached via a glass-walled bridge, an aquarium, and a restaurant. The bridge offers impressive views of the Castro de Alcabre and the Ría de Vigo. The museum's architectural ambition is internationally recognized, as underscored by its receiving the Philippe Rotthier Prize for Architecture in 2005.

The exhibition spaces include a permanent collection covering 17,000 square meters as well as rotating temporary exhibitions. In the main building, you will find a natural history cabinet, rooms on oceanography and underwater research, and historic photographs of lighthouses and the port area, among other things. The exhibits in the corridors are especially valuable, such as a submarine built in Vigo in 1898 or antique diving suits. On the upper floor, the annex houses thematic sections on traditional boats, fishing, and the canning industry. The ground floor is home to the underwater archaeology department, which serves as a repository for finds from the Galician coast and documents humankind's relationship with the sea from prehistoric times to the present.

Another highlight is the aquarium, which shows a selection of the marine fauna of the Ría de Vigo and the Cíes Islands. There you can observe sea bream, spiny lobsters, rays, seahorses, and other species. The museum also offers a wide-ranging cultural program with educational workshops for schools and families as well as special events such as guided fish feedings. Important loans are also presented here regularly, such as the Vindel Parchment, which was on loan from New York in 2017 and 2018. In addition, the museum coordinates the Salinae Archaeological Center, which sheds light on the remains of a Roman salt factory and its historical significance.