Museo Casa Lis

About the museum

The museum occupies Casa Lis, an urban mansion built on the former city walls of Salamanca for Miguel de Lis, a tannery industrialist. The provincial architect Joaquín de Vargas y Aguirre designed it around an interior courtyard, with an iron-and-glass façade of industrial inspiration and a modernist north façade rebuilt in 1905; the house opened in 1906. In 1917 it was bought by Enrique Esperabé de Arteaga, later rector of the University of Salamanca. In the 1970s it was closed and in decline, and in 1981 Salamanca City Council began its expropriation to save it.

After restoration, the building reopened in 1995 as the Museo Art Nouveau y Art Déco to display the collections donated by the antiques dealer and collector Manuel Ramos Andrade (1944–1998). It now holds nineteen collections of decorative arts from the late 19th century to the Second World War, spread over some twenty rooms: chryselephantine and bronze works, dolls and automata, glass, jewellery, furniture, fans, porcelain, painting and Viennese bronzes.

In addition to the permanent rooms, the museum runs temporary exhibitions, concerts and other activities. Inside the building there are a shop and the Café de Lis, with a terrace, and the museum maintains a virtual exhibition with digital twins of its automata.

Highlights

• Modernist building with an iron-and-glass façade on the Salamanca city walls
• Glass collection in Art Nouveau and Art Deco style
• Chryselephantine works (ivory and bronze sculptures) and Viennese bronzes
• Dolls and automata
• Nineteen decorative arts collections, including jewellery, fans and porcelain

Permanent exhibition

• Colecciones de Art Nouveau y Art Déco – Nineteen decorative arts collections, including glass, chryselephantine works and bronzes, dolls and automata, spread over some twenty rooms in the house.

Founded

1995

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Thursdays 11:00–14:00 (until 31 May) and 10:00–13:00 (from 1 June).

Tickets cannot be bought online. Entitlement to a reduced or free ticket must be proven when buying the ticket. Free admission also for residents of Navasfrías (Salamanca).

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum states that the building has lifts and adapted toilets and that there are no architectural barriers inside. There are rest areas. The museum publishes an accessibility statement on its website.

Kids & families

Minors must be accompanied by their parents, guardians or responsible adults.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop
• Wi-Fi

Café de Lis with terrace and Tienda de Lis in the same building. Free Wi-Fi in the Café de Lis, accessed through the museum and subject to its opening hours. Eating and drinking are only permitted in the Café and on the Terraza de Lis; smoking is prohibited throughout the building.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit