Congreso en línea. Se desarrolla únicamente en castellano. Sin traducción. 

Dates: 10, 17 and 24 November 2026 Online Format

For the 2026 International Museum Day, ICOM celebrated this commemoration under the theme “Museums Bringing Together a Divided World,” with the aim of raising global awareness of the role of museums as builders of invisible bridges woven in favour of interconnection and the transmission of social and cultural values; thus becoming spaces for understanding, inclusion, harmony and universal peace. Within the framework of these principles, the international congress Museums, Memories and Democracies is being promoted, with the goal of bringing together and giving visibility to the voices of those museum institutions that have moved from being settings and witnesses of political-social conflicts to becoming places for the vindication of contemporary memories and democracies.

The museum as an institution has the duty to give voice to those defeated in civil and military conflicts, to the victims of repression, dictatorships and any other circumstance that threatens freedom of expression and endangers human rights. The question we pose is: how does one musealise the evocation and denunciation of these events occurring in the present and the past? The museum cannot remain indifferent to social concerns and debates; it must become a space in which to ensure that everyone feels represented, to open debates that allow opinions to be expressed freely, to be a place for safeguarding tangible and intangible heritage, such as memory. In what way can we preserve that which is not tangible but which directly affects social history?

The purpose of this congress is to establish comparative perspectives on the events of the recent past through occurrences in both Spain and Latin America, as it proposes to build a transnational bridge that fosters a dialogue around diverse circumstances in which the museum is the setting. We are interested in learning about case studies, specific examples in any of the countries within these geographical regions that have been the scene of social threat. The aim is to extend this view to multiple cases and circumstances that allow us to understand the differences and points of convergence, at a geographical level, regarding the ways of presenting memory from within the museum.

The congress becomes an opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives being launched within memorialist museology, helping to construct a cartography of memory at an international level. Likewise, this congress will be an occasion to give visibility to the principal concerns and challenges arising around memories and democracies, becoming an essential reference event for understanding the current state of affairs and its future prospects.

Thematic lines of the congress:

• Museums as settings of memory.
• The restoration of the past from within the museum.
• Returning a voice to communities through the museum.
• How to musealise the conflicts of the past?
• Sociocultural democracy in the museum.

Congress aimed at:

• Museum professionals
• University researchers and those in the academic field.

Submission of proposals:

First phase:

• Proposals are invited that include: Title, abstract (maximum 350 words) and a brief CV, to be sent to: congresomuseosmemorias@gmail.com
• Submission deadline: 10 September 2026.
• Notification of acceptance: 30 September 2026. (Duration of presentations: 15 minutes)
• Opening of the registration period for attendees: 1 October 2026 (free registration for participants and listeners)

Second phase:

• Publication: The texts will be published in a digital Open Access book by the publisher Tirant lo Blanch. Submission deadline: 20 December 2026. Maximum length: 10 pages (Times New Roman, font size 11, single spacing, Chicago citation system).

Organisers: ICOM-Spain, ICOM-LAC, ICMEMOHRI and UCM.

Scientific coordination: Inmaculada Real López, Complutense University of Madrid.

Contact email: inmareal@ucm.es

Scientific committee:

• Jesús Pedro Lorente, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
• Inmaculada Real López, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.
• Nayra Llonch Molina, University of Lleida, Spain.
• Ruy Farias, CONICET, Argentina.
• Marcela Fugardo, University of San Isidro, Argentina.
• Carla Miranda Vasconcello, Silva Henríquez Catholic University, Santiago, Chile.
• Ana Carvalho, University of Évora, Portugal.

ICOM MEMBERS

ICOM Spain

• Carme Bergés Saura
• Luis Grau Lobo
• Nerea Izagirre Elizondo
• Agar Ledo Arias
• María Auxiliadora Llamas Márquez

ICOM Italy

• Giulia Avanza

ICOM LAC

• Edgar Ernesto González
• Lauran Bonilla-Merchav
• Hugo Calle
• Melissa Campos Solórzano

ICOM ICMEMOHRI

• Patricia Solano
• Cristina Meneguello
• Deborah Neves
• Linda Atach Zaga
• Iratxe Momoitio Astorkia
• Almudena Cruz Yábar
• Ophelia León

You can access and download the program here (Spanish)