Museum of Footwear & Industry

The municipal Museum of Footwear and Industry tells the history of footwear and its ancillary industries on Majorca, from the 13^th century until today. The new Museum of Footwear and Industry – reopened at the end of 2018 – is a museum built with the support of the local community. Most of the machines, tools, shoes, drawings, photographs and items displayed in it were either given on loan or donated to the Museum by local businesses and private individuals. Each one of them tells a true personal story that is closely linked to the identity of those who have made footwear their actual way of life. In addition, Inca residents were crucial at deciding how their heritage had to be displayed. Surveys and focus group sessions were conducted between 2017 and 2018 in order to find out how Inca residents wanted the new museum to be like. Furthermore, the carpentry students from Es Grop project (Training Centre) and the brigade of Inca’s City Council helped with assembly tasks for the museum. Last but not least, the monetary contributions made by local companies and associations contributed to the realisation of a brand new museum that pays tribute to the industrial past of this region and also reveals the future of the footwear sector.

The Museum is located in a pavilion of the former General Luque Infantry Barracks. It was designed by Majorcan architect Francesc Roca (1909 – 1910), although it was later remodelled several times by government architect Guillem Reynés Font.

The building – restored as a museum – opened on 2 June 2010 under the name Museum of Footwear and Leather. Its spacious interior includes two rectangular floors: the ground floor houses a hall for temporary exhibitions, a storage room and offices, while the first floor is home to the permanent exhibition of the Museum. The premises reopened as the Museum of Footwear and Industry at the end of 2018. Its content has been thematically and geographically extended and improved due to the new additions to the collection.