A public museum in Maó dedicated to the prehistory and history of Menorca, and the reference point for research into the island's talayotic culture. It occupies the former Franciscan convent of Jesús beside the church of San Francisco, a 17th- to 18th-century building protected as a monument since 1975. The collection runs to some 200,000 objects, gathered from earlier municipal holdings, excavations across the island and private donations. Permanent displays fill the first and second floors, temporary exhibitions the ground floor around the cloister.
Museo de Menorca
History museum of Menorca in a former Franciscan convent in Maó, built round a square baroque cloister.
- Entrance
- €4 adults, €3 students.
- Accessibility
- Step-free entrance and a wheelchair-accessible toilet. The permanent galleries are on the first and second floors.
- Parking
- No car park of its own; two paid public car parks about 210 m away, asphalt. Spaces nearby can be hard to find.
- Difficulty
- No walk in — the entrance is in the old town, with paid parking about 210 m away.
- Transport
- Nearest bus stop about 360 m away; Estació Marítima Maó Cos Nou about 430 m.
- Advance booking
- Not needed for a normal visit; tickets are sold on site. Guided, family, group and school visits are arranged with the museum in advance.
- Hours
- Closed Monday. Tuesday and Thursday 10:00–19:00; Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00–14:00.
- Address
- Pla des Monestir, 9, 07701 Maó, Illes Balears, Spain
What makes it special
Three floors of galleries run round a square baroque cloister, which is what the building was made for: this was the Franciscan convent of Jesús, emptied of friars in 1835 and used since as a charity house, a nautical school, a public library and a secondary school before the museum moved in.
The displays work forward era by era, beginning with the talayotic settlements whose stones stand all over the island, and the labels are short and set out in three languages. Around 200,000 objects sit in the collection, which grew out of a municipal museum opened in Maó in 1889 — Roman tomb fragments found in the town were among the first pieces in. The permanent exhibition was rebuilt in 2017–2018 and reopened in July 2018.
Museum archaeologists have been excavating the talayotic settlement of Cornia Nou near Maó since 2007, and guided visits take in that site alongside the temporary rooms.
Good to know
- Food: the café is a bank of vending machines, and that is all there is inside. Toilets are in the museum and kept clean.
- Time: an hour is enough to go round the displays, and the galleries are air-conditioned, which makes this a good stop in the heat of the day.
- Parking: space close to the museum can be hard to find.
- Groups and families: guided, family, group and school visits are arranged with the museum, and children's workshops and family trails run alongside them.
Getting there
The museum sits in the old town of Maó, next to the church of San Francisco, whose convent it used to be. There is no walk in to speak of: two paid car parks lie about 210 m away in a straight line, both asphalt, and that is the whole approach. Space close to the museum can be hard to find, so allow time for circling.
The nearest bus stop is roughly 360 m off, and the Estació Marítima Maó Cos Nou, at the port, about 430 m. A tourist information office stands about the same distance away as the bus stop, and there is a drinking-water point some 350 m off.
Best time to visit
Best: Tuesday or Thursday, the two days the museum stays open into the evening; on any opening day, the hot middle of the afternoon.
Avoid: Monday, when the museum is shut, and the tail end of the other opening days, which close in the early afternoon.
Indoors and air-conditioned, this is the stop that works when Maó is baking and there is no shade left in the streets. The rooms do not get busy, so there is no queue to plan around.
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Frequently asked questions
How long does a visit take?
An hour is enough to go round the permanent displays on the first and second floors; add time for whatever temporary exhibition is on the ground floor.Is there anywhere to eat or drink inside?
The café is a set of vending machines. Toilets are inside the museum and kept clean, and there is a drinking-water point about 350 m away.Is there parking at the museum?
No car park of its own. Two paid public car parks sit about 210 m away in a straight line, and finding a space close by can be a struggle.Can you follow the displays without Spanish?
Yes. The exhibit texts are short and written in three languages.Is it a good choice in hot or wet weather?
Yes. The whole visit is indoors and the galleries are air-conditioned, which makes this the standard fallback when the streets of Maó are too hot for sightseeing.