Cervantes Birthplace Museum in Alcalá de Henares

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra · 1547-1616 · Alcalá de Henares

Fancy sitting down next to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza? Visit Cervantes's birthplace in Alcalá de Henares, with its colonnaded courtyard and its 16th-century rooms.

Schedule

Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00 · Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 to 19:00

Admission

Free

Address

Calle Mayor, Alcalá de Henares

Visits

Self-guided · groups of 9 or more must book

The house

The Castilian house where the author of Don Quixote was born

For centuries there was debate over where Miguel de Cervantes had been born, until in 1948 the historian Luis Astrana Marín placed his birthplace in the old town of Alcalá de Henares, next to the Hospital de Antezana. It was a house belonging to his grandfather, and it was here that the author of Don Quixote was born in 1547 and spent his early years.

The house was rebuilt on the model of the traditional Castilian houses of the period and opened in 1956 as a museum and Cervantes library. The garden and a new entrance on Calle Mayor were added at that time, because the house used to be entered from Calle Imagen.

And since 2005, life-size figures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have been waiting for you, sitting on a bench in front of the door.

The central colonnaded courtyard, around which the two floors of the house are arranged. Photo: Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada (CC BY-SA 2.0).

What you'll see on the visit

The colonnaded courtyard

The rooms are spread over two floors around a central colonnaded courtyard, the heart of the house.

The ground floor

Here were the family's public rooms, where guests were received, as well as the patients of Cervantes's father, who worked at the nearby Hospital de Antezana.

The upper floor

This was the private area, with the bedrooms. Today it also houses two exhibition rooms and a room devoted to Master Pedro's puppet show, the episode of Don Quixote in which the puppets take centre stage.

Life in the 16th and 17th centuries

The whole house recreates the decor, furniture and daily chores of the time when Cervantes lived.

The Cervantes library

The temporary exhibition rooms display editions of Cervantes's works from different periods and in different languages.

Additional information

Workshops, theatre and talks

The house museum runs free activities all year round: workshops for children and young people, themed tours, theatre, music and talks. There are more on special dates, such as Book Day (23 April), the Night of Museums (in May), International Museum Day (18 May) and Cervantes Week, around 9 October.

If you want to follow in Cervantes's footsteps, in Valladolid you can visit the house where he was living when Don Quixote was published.

Plan your visit

If there are 8 or fewer of you, there's no need to book. Groups of 9 or more should book by email (museocasanataldecervantes@madrid.org); entry is in turns of no more than 10 people.

Book a visit

Additional information

On Wednesdays (12:00 and 13:30) and Fridays (12:00, 13:30 and 16:30) there are free guided visits to the temporary exhibitions, lasting about 30 minutes
The building is only partly accessible; you can reach the exhibition room on the second floor in a lift with room for one wheelchair
There's a hearing loop for hearing aids, a Braille leaflet (ask for it in advance) and easy-read leaflets
Descriptive tours for groups of up to 5 people with low vision, Tuesday to Friday, by appointment
The museum has no toilets
Only guide and assistance dogs are allowed
You can take photos and videos for personal use with your phone, without flash

Opening hours and closures