A legacy in motion
Welcome to the Unamuno House-Museum. Take a stroll through its rooms and let yourself be inspired by its rich environment.
Shield and vine (2022)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
The Unamuno House-Museum is located in a majestic building belonging to the University of Salamanca. Miguel de Unamuno lived here with his family when he was chancellor of the university. Opened in 1953, it serves to preserve and share knowledge about the writer's life and work.
The ground floor is occupied by the institutional area, represented by the grand Chancellor's Hall. The first floor, the family's living quarters in its day, is today the site of the museum. Its various rooms hold a wide variety of objects, furniture and artwork owned by Miguel de Unamuno, as well as his personal library. The top floor is reserved exclusively for research and has a cozy reading room where the writer's personal archive is preserved.
Sinuous scrollwork
The building, a mid-eighteenth century work by the architect García de Quiñones, displays the university crest on its facade. The entrance shows clear Baroque influences with a sinuous decorative arch framing the lintel, forming gentle, capricious scrolls.
The chancellor's residence
The house was built originally to serve as the residence for University of Salamanca's chancellors. Interestingly, in all this time only Unamuno made use of it, from 1900 to 1914, when he held the post of chancellor and lived there with his family.
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The Chancellor's Hall
The Chancellor's Hall, whose furnishings and works of art have great patrimonial value, was used for faculty meetings. The writer would occasionally use this area as an office. Today, it is used for various events related to the Unamuno House-Museum.
The history of a staircase
The staircase is original due to its cantilevered design, that is, it appears to float without any supporting element. This type of staircase was typical of those built by the architect Andrés García de Quiñones. Unamuno used to climb it every day, and enthusiastic visitors walk up those same stairs today.
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The visible man
The first floor welcomes visitors with a selection of portraits of Unamuno taken between 1904 and 1936. The sequence of photos serves as a "visual biography" of the writer, allowing us to register the passage of time through its effect on the author's characteristic image and personal style.
Artistic atmosphere
The museum is full of artworks that once belonged to the chancellor and his family. Sculptures, paintings and drawings by famous artists, and also good personal friends of his, occupy a series of rooms in which the artistic atmosphere of the house can be appreciated.
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The living room and library
The original furnishings in the living room show the decor of a typical home in the early twentieth century. Preserved there is also Unamuno's personal library, with some 6,000 books, which he donated to the University of Salamanca before his death.
Rocking away the hours
Some of the rooms also contain iconic pieces, like the rocking chair where Miguel de Unamuno liked to sit and watch the sunset through the balcony doors, read to his small children or make little origami birds, a great hobby of his.
Balconies and vine (2022)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
My balcony's grapevine
One of the building's most characteristic elements is the grapevine that runs along the balconies on the building's side facade. We know that this graceful plant already existed when Unamuno and his family lived here, thanks to a beautiful poem the writer dedicated to it in 1910.
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The study
In this study, its original work environment still intact, Unamuno wrote some of his most famous novels. On the desk are some of the quill pens he used to write with and made himself. The umbrella stand holds the walking sticks and umbrellas he would use on his daily walks.
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The bedroom
The bedroom is the most private space. Here, visitors can breathe the same air that enveloped Miguel de Unamuno. The closet contains some of his most personal items: his glasses, his hat, his characteristic beret and his chancellor's gown, a garment he typically rented.
Slow design
On Salamanca's cold winter mornings, Unamuno loved to read in bed, as well as to take notes and write letters. He designed a highly original bedside stand that he personally asked a carpenter to build, which allowed him to do it comfortably.
Research room (2018)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
The reading room
The top floor is dedicated to consultation and research. It has a library, a reading room and an archive containing nearly all of the author's manuscripts, letters, drawings and photos.
Little bronze bird (2022)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
We look forward to seeing you!
The Unamuno House-Museum is the most important research center dedicated to Unamuno today, serving as a meeting point for both students and scholars. Visitors from around the globe come here daily, drawn by the preeminence and work of one of the most distinguished writers in world literature.
"I hold an immense treasure in my home, and my home in my heart"
