Breathe in the art of the north

The partnership between the MUN (University of Navarra Museum, in Pamplona), the Botín Center (Santander), Chillida Leku (Hernani, Guipúzcoa), and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum promotes the contemplation and enjoyment of their art collections, exhibitions, and activities. To this end, they have designed a shared ticket and other benefits.

Each venue offers a 20% discount on admission to visitors who show a ticket from one of the other venues. This discount is increased to 30% for Friends of the collaborating centers. Given that admission to the MUN is free for all visitors throughout 2025 to mark its tenth anniversary (thanks to the collaboration of Pamplona City Council), this year visitors will receive a free book of their choice from its extensive collection of publications.

In addition, the entities collaborate in promoting their proposals. This is evidenced by the new series of Instagram reels, consisting of three short videos produced by the MUN, which premieres today on the social media profiles of the four spaces, highlighting the differences and essence of each one to emphasize that they are all complementary and attractive, each according to its location, nature, and mission.

The Botín Center is an international art center whose mission is to promote creativity through the arts in order to generate economic, social, and cultural development. Its "Arts, Emotions, and Creativity" program, based on research conducted for more than 13 years in collaboration with the Center for Emotional Intelligence at Yale University, consists of artistic and cultural activities that spark curiosity, imagination, and creativity in audiences, encouraging play and learning through the arts. The Center is part of the daily life of citizens and contributes to strengthening the local social and cultural fabric.

For more than two decades, Chillida Leku has been the living memory of one of the most international Basque artists. Its goal is to generate alliances and collaborative projects to spread the artistic legacy of Eduardo Chillida and establish an enriching dialogue with the sculptor's contemporary artists through a high-quality exhibition, educational, and cultural program. "It is essential to forge collaborative ties in a region with such artistic wealth, where we find an audience that is increasingly interested in participating in cultural life," explains the center's director, Mireia Massagué, regarding the agreement.

For its part, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, which remains open to the public, will inaugurate the extension designed by Norman Foster and Luis Mari Uriarte in 2026, which is currently under construction. "This will renew the vitality of a century-old institution that aspires to make a decisive contribution to the cultural fabric of the territory and of a wider networked region of which we are already a part," says its director, Miguel Zugaza.

The director of the University of Navarra Museum, Jaime García del Barrio, gives a very positive assessment of this network of cultural centers in the north, since "it facilitates the entry of new audiences, in line with the MUN's mission to promote artistic dissemination. In the future, we also aspire to generate synergies between such diverse collections and exhibitions, thus enriching the viewer's experience," he ventures.