If a town is to have a rich live art offering, it needs content and venues. In Banyoles, there is no shortage of permanent and ephemeral venues, in theatres and on the streets.

Cultural amenities such as the Municipal Theatre, the Ateneu, the Performing Arts Factory, the Library, the Music School or the Theatre School are complemented with the temporary stages set up by festivals and local organisations in different streets and premises in Banyoles, such as (a)phònica, FEM Jazz or Troba’m.

Not to mention the fairs and annual festivities, which also offer opportunities for showcasing Banyoles’ artistic talent.

If the previous section was about venues, this section will be about content.

It’s not just water that gushes from Banyoles but also a genuine artistic talent that blends impishness, eccentricity and a peripheral vision of the world. A long list of contemporary creators that we won’t start because it will always be too short, but which includes acknowledged playwrights, actors, film-makers, jewellers, photographers, musicians and writers, among many other professionals. 

Museums that tell us about ourselves and the world

Who were the first people to live in Banyoles? What was it like to live in such a unique environment? How did we adapt to transform marshland into a thriving medieval town? The answers to these questions can be found at the Archaeological Museum of Banyoles, which is housed in the Gothic mansion of Pia Almoina and three more museumised spaces: La Draga Neolithic Park, the Roman Villa of Vilauba and the monastery of Sant Esteve. The town’s other museum needs no introduction: the Darder Museum, created in 1916 with the donation of the natural history collections of the veterinarian and taxidermist Francesc Darder. The museum includes specimens of exotic animals, natural curiosities, an interpretation centre of the Lake and even a taxidermy laboratory.
*Photo: The Archaeological Museum of Banyoles