MARQ — Museu Arqueològic Provincial d'Alacant

The MARQ, Alicante's Provincial Archaeological Museum, occupies the former Hospital de San Juan de Dios, a building from 1926-1929 designed by architect Juan Vidal Ramos, in the old town of Alicante. The museum itself is much older: it was inaugurated on 17 January 1932, on the ground floor of the Palacio de la Diputación, with the President of the Republic, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, attending the opening.

An award-winning museum

After decades of growth, the MARQ moved to its current home in 2000. In 2004 it won the European Museum of the Year award, granted by the European Museum Forum, one of the sector's most prestigious honours; only three other Spanish museums have received it, including the Guggenheim in Bilbao. In 2018 it also became the first museum in Spain, out of more than 1,600 recognised institutions, to obtain the Q de Calidad Turística certification, scoring 9.8 out of 10, the first time a Spanish museum had earned the distinction among the more than 1,600 sites recognised by the state tourism authority.

The collection

The galleries trace the province's history from Prehistory to the contemporary era, with pieces from sites such as Lucentum, the Roman and Iberian city on the outskirts of Alicante itself. The museum is known for its use of audiovisual and interactive displays, unusual for a traditional archaeology museum, designed to make the finds accessible to a non-specialist audience, including full-scale reconstructions of tombs, caves and domestic interiors alongside the original pieces. To round out a museum route through the city centre, the MARQ pairs well with the MUBAG or the MACA, both a short walk away, and the best museums in Alicante guide covers the rest of the city's options for anyone planning a longer, fuller day of museum-going around the whole of the historic centre.