Casa Lis, Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum

Casa Lis is a Modernista mansion with an iron and stained-glass façade that looks out over the wall and the Tormes. Inside, in twenty rooms, the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum brings together nineteen collections: glass, chryselephantine figures and bronzes, porcelain dolls and automata. The dolls and automata are what children like most.

The house

It was commissioned by Miguel de Lis, owner of a tannery, and designed by Joaquín de Vargas y Aguirre, provincial architect of Salamanca; it opened as a residence in 1906. In 1917 Enrique Esperabé de Arteaga moved in, who later became rector of the university. In the 1970s, closed and unused, it was nearly lost, until in 1981 the city council began its expropriation. It opened as a museum in 1995 to show the collections donated by the antiques dealer Manuel Ramos Andrade. The great leaded stained-glass window in the central courtyard was made to his designs.

It is worth seeing from outside twice: from Calle Gibraltar, where you enter, and from the riverside walk, where you see the south façade of iron and glass above the wall.

Hours and tickets

From 19 October it is open Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 17:00, Saturdays from 11:00 to 20:00 and Sundays from 11:00 to 15:00. On long weekends it extends its hours: from 5 to 8 December, from 11:00 to 20:00, and from 21 December to 7 January, on weekdays, from 11:00 to 19:00. On 24 and 31 December it opens from 11:00 to 15:00, and it is closed on 25 December, 1 and 6 January. Last entry is half an hour before.

Adult ticket €7, students and pensioners €3, unemployed €1, under-14s free; groups of ten or more pay €3 per person. On Thursday mornings admission is free for everyone. Tickets are not sold online: they are bought at the ticket office, at Calle Gibraltar 14. There are guided visits of 60 to 90 minutes, at €40 in Spanish and €50 in English or French, booked at [email protected]. Phone 923 121 425.

Before you go in

Inside, photos and video are not allowed, except in the Café and the Lis terrace, nor may you eat or drink outside them. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. The building has lifts and adapted toilets, and the museum has no architectural barriers. The shop and café follow the museum's hours.

Nearby

It is two minutes from the cathedrals and from the entrance to the towers of Ieronimus. On leaving, go down to the Roman Bridge to see the stained-glass façade from the river.