A city collection and a travelling calendar
Barcelona's connection with cannabis culture includes a permanent museum and a long association with Spannabis in neighbouring Cornellà de Llobregat. Their geography diverged in 2026: the exhibition took place at Bilbao Exhibition Centre from 17 to 19 April. Barcelona retains its museum and urban history, while the fair's calendar belongs to a specific edition and venue. This distinction gives the cultural landscape a clear shape: a collection rooted in a city, and an event that brings an international sector together on particular dates.
Palau Mornau: the building is part of the visit
The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum opened in Barcelona in May 2012 inside Palau Mornau, a city palace whose origins date to the sixteenth century. The Mornau family acquired the property in the late eighteenth century. Its later transformation by Modernista architect Manuel Raspall added another historical layer. The museum therefore occupies an architectural setting with a history of its own, rather than a purpose-built exhibition hall. Its rooms place the history of cannabis alongside the material history of a Barcelona palace.
Hemp as an object of cultural history
The museum's subject extends across industrial hemp, medicine and the cultural uses of cannabis. These strands involve different objects and timescales: fibre belongs to histories of textiles and working materials, while medical and popular representations show changing attitudes toward the plant. A permanent collection allows those connections to be explored through objects, images and interpretation. It also offers a different pace from a trade fair, where temporary stands and scheduled sessions concentrate attention on a particular edition.
Cornellà and the conference format
The 2025 Spannabis edition ran from 14 to 16 March at Fira de Cornellà. The event's exhibition setting brought commercial products and technologies into a shared venue, while the associated World Cannabis Conferences provided a separate platform for presentations and discussion. The conference archive also records Barcelona sessions on 15 and 16 March 2024. These dated records document how an exhibition and a discussion programme developed together; they are historical markers rather than recurring dates fixed for every year.
Bilbao in 2026
The BEC listing places Spannabis Bilbao on 17, 18 and 19 April 2026. A fair venue, a museum and a private association each organise participation differently. Museums present collections; fairs assemble exhibitors and programmes; associations operate through statutes, membership and governing bodies under association law. Barcelona's cultural significance continues through its museum and history, while the 2026 fair adds Bilbao to the geographic account. The two cities represent connected chapters in a cultural and commercial network whose institutions have distinct purposes.
Sources & further reading
General information, not individual legal or medical advice.