If you are travelling the road that leads into the Ses Salines Natural Park and you follow the signs to Sa Canal, you will come to a tiny village built to house the local salt workers. The road ends there and is surrounded by industrial buildings, offices with sturdy walls, docks and bays, small houses with a colonial air, machinery and stores. The whole place and its architecture is charming, with an atmosphere that transports you back into the past.
Next to the road you can still see the railway tracks for the trains that transported the salt to the pier where it was loaded onto barges, an area known as Es Carregador de Sal – the salt loading bay. At this point, the first building you come across is on the left, and with the transparent waters of the beach forming a backdrop, you will see a huge warehouse with solid stone walls and a gabled roof, which was where the salt company stored its cargo. Built in 1941, it was designed to contain the salt that was brought from the salt pans to be loaded at the neighbouring dock. However, since 2015 it has been transformed and has become one of the most important cultural venues on the island.
Lio Malca, a well-known art collector, decided to turn it into a gallery for modern art, exhibiting the works of famous national and international artists. The public has enjoyed viewing the works of Kaws (en 2015), Marco Brambilla (en 2016), Keith Haring (en 2017), Bill Viola (en 2018), Kenny Scharf (en 2019) y Rafa Macarrón (en 2021). Entry to all the exhibitions is free and visiting hours are extensive. With a location right by one of the most famous beaches in the world, Lio Malca’s foundation runs and manages a unique exhibition space dedicated to world class contemporary art: La Nave.
