Spain is culture

Some years ago we would never have had the privilege of seeing the private rooms of figures like the painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso or the writer Miguel de Cervantes. Today we can not only step inside, but we also have the chance to discover many other secrets about their lives. Here we tell you some of the most recommended house museums in Spain so you can make a visit. Step over to the threshold, you're more than welcome.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso Birthplace Museum. Malaga
Open every day, and admission free on Sundays. On your visit to the house you'll see a recreation of a 19th-century room, with objects, family mementos and pieces made by the famous painter from Malaga.

Three of Dalí's houses. Gerona
No, it's not that these three houses are vying with each other for the privilege of being the birthplace of the surrealist painter. It's simply that each one represents a different stage in his life.
Perhaps the best known is the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. The building itself is considered to be the largest surrealistic object in the world. Normally in August you can also visit the museum at night and enjoy a glass of cava on an interior terrace.

The House-Museum in Portlligat is the place Dalí lived until the death of his wife Gala (visits are restricted and reservations are required). Finally there is the Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol, a mediaeval building where Dalí gave free rein to his creativity in memory of Gala (closed Mondays, and with guided visits on Saturdays or Tuesdays depending on the period).

Cervantes Birthplace-Museum. Alcalá de Henares
According to scholars, this is where the father of the 'The ingenious knight Don Quixote of La Mancha' was born. It recreates a prosperous house of the 16th and 17th centuries, and is open every day except Monday. A visit is even more entertaining during the Veranos Cervantinos (Cervantes Summers) and Cervantes Week (around 9 October), as there are workshops, concerts, theatre…
A curious fact: in the town of El Toboso (in Toledo) you'll find the House-Museum of Don Quixote's true love, Dulcinea.

Columbus House-Museum. Valladolid
Come and relive the life of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America. You'll find everything from a tombstone with the bust of Columbus inscribed 'Here died Columbus', to a monument to the Santa María, the boat in which he sailed on his voyage. The experience is similar to travelling five centuries back in time. Remember, it closes on Monday.

José Saramago's house. Lanzarote
'A house made of books'. This is how the Nobel prize-winner José Saramago described his home in the Canary Islands where he lived for most of his last 18 years. A guided visit is the ideal way to discover a house with personality, a house in which all the clocks are stopped at four o'clock in the afternoon, at the instant when Saramago met his partner, Pilar del Río. You'll be able to stroll around the library and sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in the kitchen, as did personalities like Susan Sontag, José Luis Sampedro, Eduardo Galeano and Pedro Almodóvar. Closed Sundays.

Sorolla Museum. Madrid
In addition to being the former house of the painter Sorolla, this museum is an oasis of tranquillity in the centre of Madrid. As soon as you cross the threshold you'll see a beautiful garden, before continuing your visit to the painter's rooms, to his studio... and all filled with some of his most important works. Closed Mondays and Sunday afternoons.

These are just a few of the examples of Spanish museums whose walls enclose the past of famous people whose lives seem to come from the pages of a book. However, there are many more: Victor Hugo's house in Pasaia, the Birthplace-House of Federico García Lorca in Fuente Vaqueros, the Unamuno House-Museum in Salamanca and the Isabella 'la Católica' Royal Testament Palace in Medina del Campo. If walls could speak…