Located inside the Sports Palace, the museum traces the history of sport in Cantabria and exhibits trophies, equipment and objects donated by the region's great sportsmen and women.
This is a permanent exhibition that reviews the history of Cantabrian sport and the main milestones of its sportsmen and women, from the first sports games in the region, in 1627, and the origins of sport, around 1850, to the 'prodigious decade' and the 'golden era', between the end of the last century and the beginning of the present, with notable triumphs of outstanding figures, such as the rally driver Chus Puras or the cyclist Óscar Freire.
It covers all disciplines, from the best known and most popular, such as football and handball, to local sports, such as bowling and rowing. It also looks at sportsmen of the stature of the golfer Seve Ballesteros and the footballer Paco Gento, while recalling the "heroic adventure" of Juan Ignacio Pombo from Santander, the first Spanish aviator to fly from the Cantabrian capital to Mexico City, in a journey made in May 1935, when he was only 21 years old.
The itinerary starts with the first manifestations of sporting games in Cantabria, in the first third of the 17th century, and then moves on to the origins of sport in the region, at the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, the importance of the Royal Family in sport and in Santander stands out, with the summer holidays of Alfonso XIII between 1913 and 1930. From that period, specifically from 1913, the founding minutes of Racing, which celebrated its centenary last year, also stand out.
Another module reflects the transcendence of sporting institutions, in that different spaces house different disciplines and elements characteristic of them, linked to the transition to modern sport, and passing through the Republican, Civil War, post-war, second half of the 20th century and so far in the 21st.
The evolution of golf, with copies of the balls and clubs used in successive stages, regattas, with replicas of rowing boats and oars, newspaper covers and Olympic posters complete the exhibition, which also includes trophies and cups, such as the one won by Teka Balonmano, "the jewel in the crown", or Racing's promotion cup this year, which reflects "the great feat" achieved. There are also 68 medals on display, including five Olympic gold medals.
Throughout the route, installed in the hall of the Palacio de los Deportes and which has a surface area of 280 square metres, you can also see photographs and images of the protagonists, the sportsmen and women. Among them are the 17 Olympic medallists and 46 world champions in Cantabria.
Free entry.