Fundación Archivo de Indianos - Museo de la Emigración
Museum of Spanish emigration to the Americas housed in the Quinta Guadalupe in Colombres, with period rooms and a historic garden.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The Quinta Guadalupe is an indiano house (a residence built by emigrants who returned from the Americas), built around 1906 in Colombres by Iñigo Noriega Laso, an Asturian entrepreneur who made his fortune in Mexico. It is named after his wife, Guadalupe Castro. After the owner's death the building had various uses: a convalescent home, a field hospital and, later, a state-run social care centre.
At the end of the 1980s, on the initiative of the Principality of Asturias, the Caja de Asturias savings bank and the University of Oviedo, the building became the seat of the Fundación Archivo de Indianos. The foundation was created with a dual purpose: to gather and preserve documentation on Asturian emigration to the Americas, and to make this phenomenon known through a museum.
The Museo de la Emigración has been built up largely from contributions by emigrants and their mutual aid societies. It covers three floors of the house: departure and farewell, the social and welfare centres set up in the Americas, and stories of success and failure. Several rooms retain their original furniture and show what an indiano home was like.
The richly decorated interiors include an iconographic programme on the voyage overseas, with green and blue tones evoking the ocean. The house is surrounded by a historic garden with large trees, fountains and terraced ponds that end in a grotto of romantic character. The garden is included in the Inventory of the Cultural Heritage of Asturias.
Highlights
- Quinta Guadalupe, an early 20th-century indiano house with period rooms
- Permanent exhibition on emigration to Cuba, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and other countries
- Spaces on the voyage overseas and on shipwrecks
- Historic garden with fountains, terraced ponds and a romantic grotto
- Archive and library on emigration (enquiries Wednesday to Friday)
Permanent exhibition
- Museo de la Emigración – Permanent exhibition across three floors of the Quinta Guadalupe on departure, emigrant societies and life in Cuba, the United States, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and other destinations.
- Founded
- 1987
- Operated by
- Fundación Archivo de Indianos
Admission & discounts
| Adults | €8 |
|---|---|
| Children & teens | €4.50Rate for children aged 6 to 14. |
| Groups (15+ people) | €5 per personAdults €5, children €4; groups of 15 or more people. |
General admission: €8 for adults and €4.50 for children aged 6 to 14.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair accessible: no information
- Elevator: no information
- Accessible restroom: no information
- Accessible parking: no information
- Service dogs welcome
- Tactile models & exhibits: no information
- Sign language tours: no information
- Easy-to-read materials: no information
- Audio description: no information
No animals are allowed in, except guide dogs for blind people. No information on accessibility for people with reduced mobility has been published.
Kids & families
Pushchairs may not enter the rooms and are left at reception.
Getting there & parking
By public transit
Alsa bus to Colombres.
Colombres lies on the border between Asturias and Cantabria, in the municipality of Ribadedeva.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Photography | Photography is permitted in the rooms without flash, focus light or tripod; any recording is prohibited. |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Food and drink may not be brought in. Visitors are asked to switch their mobile phones to silent during the visit. Pushchairs must be left at reception. Smoking is prohibited inside. |
