Museo del Olivar y el Aceite

The building that houses the Museo del Olivar y el Aceite, an olive museum in Baena (Jaén), was formerly a historical mill belonging to José Alcalá Santaella until 1959. Most of the mill machinery dates from the middle of the 19th century. During the olive harvest, a group of three millers worked in the mill and ground 2,000-3,000 kg a day. The fruit came from olive groves in the Chigatillo and Vela districts.

The Museo del Olivar y el Aceite covers just over 800 m2, with an exhibition on two floors. On the ground floor there is a reception area and multi-purpose room, set around a mill with a grindstone with two stones shaped as truncated cones high up, a thermal mixer, the hydraulic press with a cart from La Cordobesa Foundry and the four-piston hydraulic pump – all perfectly refurbished and fully operational. On this floor there is also an olive oil store with large metal tanks, and another room where visitors can learn about the history and evolution of olive groves in Baena.

On the first floor, as well as a library and olive oil workshop, there are several exhibition spaces that show the use of oil as a source of heat and light, electricity, its use as food and its dietary properties, the symbolic importance of the olive tree, a collection of proverbs, popular medicine, etc. Here visitors will be able to see a collection of more than 3,000 olive oil labels, and at the end of the visit they will be able to enjoy the pleasant aroma of the Baena Designation of Origin oils.

The aim of the Museo del Olivar y el Aceite is to collect and animate the most relevant aspects of the culture of oil and olive groves. It is an educational space where visitors will be able to experience, with their five senses, this thousand-year-old culture, combining knowledge exchange, activities and the promotion of healthy practices.