The Moll de Costa dock was opened in the city of Tarragona in June 1986. To make this possible, the old sheds on this dock had to be restored, with these eventually coming to be used mainly for cultural, social and leisure activities. Urban development work was also carried out on the Moll de Costa dock, and over the years the warehouses known as ‘refuges’ were also added.

From 1988 onwards, Shed 2 on the Moll de Costa dock began housing a series of exhibitions with a very clear and groundbreaking approach that has led to the Port of Tarragona and our city becoming well-known and recognised all over the world. The works shown have always been benchmarks in contemporary art with marked conceptual lines.

In fact, it was with the first group exhibition entitled "Culmination of an environment" that the Port of Tarragona’s Art Collection really got under way, with the donation of the piece “The shortest distance” by the artist Perejaume.

In recent years, the Port of Tarragona has been managing these areas, endowing them with an intense cultural and social activity that has earned the recognition of the public and of the critics.

Over the years a great many artists have donated their works and efforts, and day by day this collection has grown until it now contains some eighty pieces.

It should be noted that a variety of disciplines are represented: sculpture, photography, engravings, etc., but above all paintings. The collection also embraces a variety of styles, both figurative ones and those that can be considered as examples of lyrical or geometrical abstraction.

Throughout this period a great deal of effort has gone into cataloguing, classifying and conserving all the pieces that form part of the Collection. During 2026, the Art Fund of the Port of Tarragona is made up of 125 pieces and has become the tangible legacy that these 40 years of exhibitions have left in the city.