Museo de Historia de Melilla

The Museo de Historia de Melilla is the principal history museum of Melilla, Spain's autonomous city on the northern Moroccan coast, and is housed within the vaulted casemates and chambers of the Baluarte de la Concepción — a 17th-century artillery bastion forming part of the third defensive ring of Melilla la Vieja. The museum presents the full span of Melilla's recorded history, beginning with prehistoric habitation of the promontory and proceeding through Phoenician trading activity, Roman occupation of the settlement known as Rusadir, the medieval Marinid Berber period, and the five centuries of Spanish sovereignty that followed the 1497 conquest. The permanent collection is organized chronologically across multiple rooms installed within former military spaces including powder magazines, guardrooms, and gun casemates. The Phoenician and Roman galleries, among the most historically distinctive sections, display amphorae, coins, inscriptions, and ceramic fragments recovered from excavations on the promontory, attesting to Rusadir's role as a Mediterranean waystation and trading post. A medieval Islamic section presents architectural fragments and household objects from the Marinid occupation. The conquest-era gallery displays weapons, navigational instruments, and documentary facsimiles from the early Spanish colonial period. Later rooms cover the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Melilla experienced a building boom under Spanish administration that produced the exceptional Modernista (Art Nouveau) architecture visible in the new town today — the museum's coverage of this period contextualizes the architectural heritage visible throughout the wider city. The museum is administered by the autonomous city of Melilla and the Consejería de Cultura. Admission is €3 per adult; the ticket also covers access to the Baluarte de la Concepción bastion structure and roof terrace.