The figure is lower than that recorded in 2022, due to the drop in bookings to visit the town's castle, but foreign visitors have increased.
The Museums of Mequinenza closed 2023 with a total of 4.962 visits, achieving the targets set for the year despite a slight decrease of 8% compared to 2022. The main reason for this decrease is the drop of around 40% in visits to the town's privately owned Castle, which is open to the public only on Tuesdays throughout the year, except for August, to show part of the building by prior reservation, despite requests from the Mequinenza Town Council to move visits to the weekend.
This latter factor has limited the overall sustained growth in museum visits, which individually have attracted 2% more visitors. This increase is partly due to a 21% rise in international visitors, primarily from France, Germany, and the UK, as well as countries such as China, Argentina, Chile, Canada, and Japan, among others. This increase was further boosted by the World Fishing Championship. As for domestic visitors, who account for 95% of visits, the majority come from Catalonia, Aragon, and the Valencian Community, representing 25 different provinces.
Of the approximately 5.000 visits, 40% were from people who wanted to explore the area, highlighting the town's potential. An additional 10% were drawn by the Mequinenza-born writer Jesús Moncada, whose presence has led to nearly 300 literary tours through the streets of old Mequinenza, the "Poble Vell," which he portrays in his novels. The remaining 50% were comprised of people who combined their visit to the Castle with visits to the Museums, repeat visitors, and those attracted by the Mining Museum and through the internet and social media.
Among the illustrious visitors, it is worth highlighting that of Danilo Moncada, Prince of Monforte and Soria, descendant of the Italian branch of the Moncada family, the most notable of the Middle Ages in Mequinenza, a time when the town was part of the barony of Aitona and was owned by the Moncada family, from Constanza de Moncada in the 13th century to María Teresa de Moncada, VII Marchioness of Aitona, in the 18th century, at which time, lacking male descendants, the house of Moncada was absorbed by that of Medinaceli.
Among the activities organized by the Museums during the year, the following stand out: those carried out to promote and disseminate the work of Jesús Moncada in libraries, the MOMAr project, the celebration of “Sant Jordi al Poble Vell”, the “The Water We Want” contest, the International Museum Day 2023 with the Typical Spanish Rumba Collective concert and the talk by Emma Portolés “Landscape and Memory” along with an open house or the celebration of the Annual Gala of the Institut d'Estudis del Baix Cinca.
In addition, we have been collaborating with the University of Zaragoza, with The Nature Conservancy, with the International Congress "Around the Table" in which the "coques" of San Blas and Santa Águeda have been presented and in the III Conference on Museums and Heritage Education of the Pontevedra Museum with the project "Between stories and memories: heritage education through the Jesús Moncada literary route in the Old Town of Mequinenza".
