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Cervantes House Museum

Cervantes House

Where: Calle Mayor 48, 28801 Alcalá de Henares
Opening hours: 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday to Sunday (last visit at 5.30 pm). Closed on Mondays, December 24, 25 and 31, and January 1.
How to get there from Madrid: Cercanías line C1, C2 and C7A and bus line 223 (from Avenida América bus station).
Free admission
Visit the website of the Cervantes House Museum

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes is famous all over the word. For many reasons, the Spanish writer has been compared to Shakespeare, although their style is completely different. While the bard of Avon was a playwright, Cervantes wrote mostly novels, including the most famous and most important novel in Spanish language: Don Quixote – its complete title: El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, or The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. If you study Spanish in Spain this book is a must, as it will give you a historical context of the country's culture.

So why are Cervantes and Shakespeare compared to each other? Because they lived during the same period, are considered the most important writers in their respective languages and they also died within a day of each other.

Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 23, 1547 in Alcalá de Henares -a small town on the outskirts of the that now belongs to Comunidad de Madrid. He was a soldier, novelist, poet and playwright.

Cervantes House

If you ever visit Madrid, the Cervantes House Museum is a great place to spend an afternoon.

Miguel de Cervantes' House, which is now a museum, is in the intersection of the Calle Mayor with the Calle Imagen, in old town Alcalá de Henares. This is where his family lived and where the writer was most likely born. Luis Astriana Marín, author of La vida ejemplar y heróica de Miguel de Cervantes ('The Exemplary and Heroic Life of Miguel de Cervantes') was the one who –through thorough research– revealed the house as his birthplace in 1948. As a consequence, the City Hall purchased the building with the aim of establishing a Cervantes museum.

Cervantes Museum

The Cervantes House Museum opened in 1956 after a great restoration of the original construction. However the constant flow of visitors (over 10,000 per month) made it mandatory to offer more alternatives and cultural activities. The adjacent property was purchased and incorporated to the museum, which provided an additional 200 square meters, destined to new spaces for cultural action, including a documentary exposition hall, a multifunctional room for activities, conferences and workshops, a library and new administration offices. Nowadays it receives more than 150,000 a year

The museum recreates the different spaces in the house of a well-to-do family during the 16th and 17th centuries. The decor in each room gives the visitor an idea of the everyday activities in the life of a family from the Spanish Golden Age. If you take Spanish classes in Madrid your teachers are very likely to recommend a visit to the museum.

The Cervantes House Museum also organises several activities all year round, among which count interesting activities that take place on specific dates, such as Carnival festivities (where clothes and accessories from Cervantes' era are used), summer activities (where plays, concerts and workshops are carried out) and, for Christmas, several activities related to the Spanish Golden Age are organised, especially in revolving around entertainment and gastronomy.