Costa Blanca Museums — From Iberian Gold to Modern Art

The flagship museums

Why MARQ is special

Opened in 2000 in a converted hospital, MARQ tells the story of human life on the Costa Blanca from prehistory through the Moors to the modern era. Its immersive 'Roman ship' and 'Iberian sanctuary' rooms — using cinema, lighting and reconstructed objects rather than glass cases — earned it the European Museum of the Year prize in 2004. Two of the three large galleries are devoted to the Iberian civilisation that lived here from the 6th century BC onwards.

Specialist museums worth a detour

• ✦Museo del Calzado, Elda — the world's most complete shoe history museum, in a town that still makes designer footwear for half of Europe.
• ✦Museo del Juguete, Ibi — toy capital of Spain since the 19th century; nostalgic and surprising.
• ✦Museo de la Sal, Santa Pola — explains the salt-flat industry that built the Costa Blanca's southern economy.
• ✦Museo del Mar, Santa Pola — inside the 16th-century castle; tells the Tabarca story.
• ✦Casa-Museo Miguel Hernández, Orihuela — the modest home of one of Spain's greatest 20th-century poets.
• ✦Museo del Vino, Pinoso — bodega-museum of DO Alicante wine country.