Sabadell will have a museum of the history of textiles and design at the end of 2026. Mayor Marta Farrés (PSC) has announced that the council will pay 3.2 million euros to Naturgy for the old Gas Museum, with the aim of transforming it in a museum that has three areas: the pre-industrial history of the 19th century, the industrial era and fashion and clothing, with all the current innovation.
The building, with a useful area of 2,773 square meters and four floors, will be the epicenter of a museum project, yet to be defined, which will have other heritage elements distributed throughout Sabadell such as the old machines - selfactin - from the Vapor Pissit - a few streets - or the different chimneys that remain from the old steamships.
Farrés considers that with this work “the foundations are laid to meet a historic demand” from Sabadell. Furthermore, the mayor points out that "a facility will be gained in the center, with a large assembly hall. We want it to be a living museum, which responds to the needs of the 21st century."
One of the attractions of this new space will be the haute couture and ready-to-wear collection of the Antoni de Montpalau Foundation, a Sabadell-based entity with more than 17,500 pieces from the late 20th century to the present day, from leading couturiers such as Pertegaz. , Josep Font, Santa Eulàlia or Yamamoto or Christian Lacroix.
"The collection is considered the most important in the State due to its breadth and variety and has been nourished by donations from individuals and designers, such as Isabel de Pedro, who has given us clothing from international designers such as Vivienne Westwood," details Josep Casamartina, director of the foundation: “In this new museum, the collection will have a physical headquarters and we will also continue to generate new exhibitions and meetings throughout the country and here too,” he proposes.
The council has agreed that payment to Naturgy will be made in two installments. Before, the agreement will have to go through the plenary session, where the local government has an absolute majority. The conditioning works on the space - closed in 2018 - will begin in 2025 and will cost around 500,000 euros, according to the first municipal assessments. The project has the support of the Gremi de Fabricants, the ESDI design school, the aforementioned Bosch i Cardellach Foundation and the aforementioned Antoni Montpalau.
