Museo Arqueologico de Estepona
Museo Arqueologico de Estepona
Museo Arqueologico de Estepona
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4.0
29 reviews
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8
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10
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10
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1
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Turista-Inglesa
Estepona, Spain45,617 contributions
Feb 2014 • Solo
.
Only three stars because the museum is only in Spanish. This is not a big disadvantage, but some of the best bits for me required you to be able to read 16th-century documents; I can, but you might not be able to! If it had had good English descriptions too, it would have got 4 stars.
Even if you can't read Old Spanish, it's worth popping in just to admire the 18th-century gentleman's residence. Magnificent. Not what you expect to see on a holiday to the Costa del Sol.
This old "Casa del Aljibe" - formerly the Town Hall and before that a gracious residence with foundations dating back to Moorish times, now houses the Archaeological Museum of Estepona.
It is worth a visit for the building alone, which is built in the typical 18th century style of a rich gentleman's dwelling. You start with a large entrance porch, called a Zaguan. Traditionally these have been considered part of the street rather than the house, and so in the past beggars or vendors might set up there, and people had no compunction about sheltering inside out of the occasional winter rainstorm.
The Zaguan always leads to a central patio, here we have a beautiful example. In the centre is the well leading to the "aljibe" after which the house was named - a very old water storage tank said to date back to Moorish times. If you are not quite sure, Moorish times here in Andalusia refers to the period between 711 and 1492 when the Muslim Caliphs of Cordoba and Emirs of Granada ruled. Over 700 years of Islamic history - if you read the review of the Plaza del Reloj, you'll learn about the mosque.
All around the patio at first-floor level is a beautiful balcony, now glassed in but originally open to the patio. This balcony is in fact the corridor giving access to the rooms at that level; a handsome staircase leads up there. Traditionally, the maids lived further up above in the attics, rooms too hot in winter and too cold in summer for the ladies and gentlemen to inhabit!
Here the patio has been enclosed by an attractive glass roof; when first built, this was open to the sky.
The museum is on the ground floor only, with different rooms for different periods. There are loads of interesting exhibits, and if you are a habitué of museums elsewhere, you can guess what the objects are. You won't know for sure unless you have a good command of Spanish, as there are no multi-lingual descriptions. However, based on the abysmal translations into English that we see elsewhere in Estepona (Yes, I have volunteered to do it for them for free. No, they don't want me to) you are just as well off without them.
:-)
The first room is pre-history, Phoenicians and the Roman Conquest. The second one concentrates on the Roman period, with particular emphasis on the burial ground and the items put in the coffins for the departed to use in the after life.
I was very interested in the two rooms looking at the 700+ years of Moorish rule, when the town was "Medina Istibbuna", but the bit that I most enjoyed was an exhibition in the patio of old documents.
There was a typed version of a series of documents (photocopies I guess) dating back to 1502. That first document was written just ten years after the army of Queen Isabel and King Fernando (yes, that's right: the ones in the Sky TV series) laid siege to Santa Fe just outside Granada, the Moorish King capitulated, and it was the end of seven centuries of Moorish rule in Spain.
In this document, the Spanish King and Queen ordered a castle to be built on the ruins of the Moorish fortress in Estepona, and land to be purchased to build 20 dwellings for householders around it. The aim was clearly to start a Christian town around the castle.
And it was successful, as in 1526 another document shows that there were now 25 or 26 householders living there. These houses formed the first two streets of modern Estepona; they are just down the road from this museum, the Calle Villa and the Calle Castillo on either side of the castle.
Another document describes a legal dispute between Estepona and Marbella in 1618 over grazing rights, particularly pigs and acorns - the famous "jamón de bellota" from acorn-fed pigs already important!
But my favourite was the document of 1617, when a wealthy gentleman of Estepona sets out in a legal document the items that he gave his wife on their marriage, to be her personal possessions. These were:
* a chest
* a mattress
* 4 sheets
* a set of bed hangings
* 2 pillows
* 1 towel
Only one towel? He wasn't expecting her to go down to the beach then!
I think that you will enjoy seeing this beautiful house and looking at the exhibits.
.
Only three stars because the museum is only in Spanish. This is not a big disadvantage, but some of the best bits for me required you to be able to read 16th-century documents; I can, but you might not be able to! If it had had good English descriptions too, it would have got 4 stars.
Even if you can't read Old Spanish, it's worth popping in just to admire the 18th-century gentleman's residence. Magnificent. Not what you expect to see on a holiday to the Costa del Sol.
This old "Casa del Aljibe" - formerly the Town Hall and before that a gracious residence with foundations dating back to Moorish times, now houses the Archaeological Museum of Estepona.
It is worth a visit for the building alone, which is built in the typical 18th century style of a rich gentleman's dwelling. You start with a large entrance porch, called a Zaguan. Traditionally these have been considered part of the street rather than the house, and so in the past beggars or vendors might set up there, and people had no compunction about sheltering inside out of the occasional winter rainstorm.
The Zaguan always leads to a central patio, here we have a beautiful example. In the centre is the well leading to the "aljibe" after which the house was named - a very old water storage tank said to date back to Moorish times. If you are not quite sure, Moorish times here in Andalusia refers to the period between 711 and 1492 when the Muslim Caliphs of Cordoba and Emirs of Granada ruled. Over 700 years of Islamic history - if you read the review of the Plaza del Reloj, you'll learn about the mosque.
All around the patio at first-floor level is a beautiful balcony, now glassed in but originally open to the patio. This balcony is in fact the corridor giving access to the rooms at that level; a handsome staircase leads up there. Traditionally, the maids lived further up above in the attics, rooms too hot in winter and too cold in summer for the ladies and gentlemen to inhabit!
Here the patio has been enclosed by an attractive glass roof; when first built, this was open to the sky.
The museum is on the ground floor only, with different rooms for different periods. There are loads of interesting exhibits, and if you are a habitué of museums elsewhere, you can guess what the objects are. You won't know for sure unless you have a good command of Spanish, as there are no multi-lingual descriptions. However, based on the abysmal translations into English that we see elsewhere in Estepona (Yes, I have volunteered to do it for them for free. No, they don't want me to) you are just as well off without them.
:-)
The first room is pre-history, Phoenicians and the Roman Conquest. The second one concentrates on the Roman period, with particular emphasis on the burial ground and the items put in the coffins for the departed to use in the after life.
I was very interested in the two rooms looking at the 700+ years of Moorish rule, when the town was "Medina Istibbuna", but the bit that I most enjoyed was an exhibition in the patio of old documents.
There was a typed version of a series of documents (photocopies I guess) dating back to 1502. That first document was written just ten years after the army of Queen Isabel and King Fernando (yes, that's right: the ones in the Sky TV series) laid siege to Santa Fe just outside Granada, the Moorish King capitulated, and it was the end of seven centuries of Moorish rule in Spain.
In this document, the Spanish King and Queen ordered a castle to be built on the ruins of the Moorish fortress in Estepona, and land to be purchased to build 20 dwellings for householders around it. The aim was clearly to start a Christian town around the castle.
And it was successful, as in 1526 another document shows that there were now 25 or 26 householders living there. These houses formed the first two streets of modern Estepona; they are just down the road from this museum, the Calle Villa and the Calle Castillo on either side of the castle.
Another document describes a legal dispute between Estepona and Marbella in 1618 over grazing rights, particularly pigs and acorns - the famous "jamón de bellota" from acorn-fed pigs already important!
But my favourite was the document of 1617, when a wealthy gentleman of Estepona sets out in a legal document the items that he gave his wife on their marriage, to be her personal possessions. These were:
* a chest
* a mattress
* 4 sheets
* a set of bed hangings
* 2 pillows
* 1 towel
Only one towel? He wasn't expecting her to go down to the beach then!
I think that you will enjoy seeing this beautiful house and looking at the exhibits.
.
Written 12 February 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RovingCivilEngineer
Gloucestershire, UK135 contributions
Sept 2015 • Couples
The staff could not be more helpful - but not at all intrusive or pushy.
Ask them what to see, or what something is and you get a really neat, short, explanation and can ask for more detail is you want.
As a small, regional museum, this is a good example.
Ask them what to see, or what something is and you get a really neat, short, explanation and can ask for more detail is you want.
As a small, regional museum, this is a good example.
Written 14 August 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ticklegj
Warrington, UK66 contributions
Dec 2013 • Family
Small but several attractive display's showing the village through the ages from the stone age Romans and Moors up to recent times.
Written 23 December 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andrea W
Derby, United Kingdom59 contributions
Jun 2019 • Couples
Worth a quick look but maybe would have spent longer if they had info written in other languages. If they charged a small fee then maybe they could achieve this and we would all learn more.
Written 14 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
kayb873
London, UK10 contributions
Jun 2018 • Couples
The museum is in a lovely old house and the rooms are well organised - mainly Roman artefacts as far as we could understand. Not speaking much Spanish, the explanations were too difficult for us. There didn't seem to be anything in other languages.
Written 19 June 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
cafedart
112 contributions
Dec 2016 • Solo
An excellent informative start incorporating the tourist office free maps available of other attractions and murals locations
Written 24 December 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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