The Consell de Mallorca has formalised the purchase of Sa Fàbrica Nova in Sóller for an amount of two million euros, funded through Next Generation European funds, with the aim of preserving one of the most significant ensembles of the island’s industrial heritage and preventing its loss due to the advanced state of deterioration it currently presents.
Detail of the looms. Photos: Consell de Mallorca.
Sa Fàbrica Nova has been listed as a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) since 2018 and is the only textile factory in Mallorca that preserves both the structure and the original machinery. Since that year, technical reports from the Consell de Mallorca have warned of severe deterioration of the building, putting its conservation at risk. As Llorenç Galmés has pointed out, the purchase makes it possible to bring this situation of advanced deterioration to an end, guarantee the long-term protection of the building and begin the necessary actions to halt its degradation and restore the complex for public use.
A flagship textile museum
The aim of the island institution is to turn Sa Fàbrica Nova into a flagship textile museum in Mallorca, with a permanent exhibition dedicated to Sóller’s textile industry and that of the island as a whole, championing emblematic heritage sites and ensuring the transmission of knowledge linked to this sector to future generations. The complex constitutes an exceptional testimony to the social and economic history of Sóller in the 20th century, as well as to the importance of the textile industry in the municipality’s development.
The total cost of the project up to its opening is estimated at €9.2 million, which includes the comprehensive refurbishment of the building, the involvement of specialist technicians, singular interventions required for a BIC-listed site, the restoration of movable assets and machinery, museum design and interpretation, cultural activities and maintenance and management plans. The annual operating budget of the future museum will be one million euros.
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