Hanging Houses and the Spanish Abstract Art Museum

The Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses) are the symbol of Cuenca: houses with wooden balconies jutting out over the precipice of the Huécar gorge, on the edge of the old town. Their origin is unclear; some think it Muslim and others medieval, from the 14th and 15th centuries. Today they are three former palatial houses, and two of them have housed the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art, of the Juan March Foundation, since 1966. Going in is the way to see them from the inside, and it is free.

The building

Inside they keep Mudéjar coffered ceilings in some rooms, ceilings of carved and painted beams, Gothic lattices, Renaissance decoration on some arches and late Gothic wall paintings in one of the halls. For a time they were the town hall; afterwards they stood abandoned for years and were completely restored in the 1960s. The Renaissance doorway at the entrance is not from here: it comes from an old palace in Villarejo de la Peñuela and was added when the complex was extended. The building belongs to Cuenca City Council.

What impresses most are the rooms with windows open to the void, where the landscape of the gorge blends with the paintings. Alfred Barr Jr., who was director of the MoMA in New York, called it the most beautiful small museum in the world, and the phrase is still on the foundation's website.

The museum

The museum grew out of the initiative of the painter Fernando Zóbel, who in 1980 donated to the Juan March Foundation his collection of painting, sculpture, drawing and printed works, his library and his sketchbooks. Since then the foundation has run it and has expanded it. It brings together work of the abstract generation of the 1950s and 1960s: Antonio Saura, Fernando Zóbel, Gerardo Rueda, Jordi Teixidor, José Guerrero, Eusebio Sempere, Luis Feito, Gustavo Torner and Manuel Millares, among others. The collection is rearranged from time to time to make room for temporary exhibitions; in winter 2026 to 2027 there is one on Yves Klein.

Hours and visit

Admission is free. It is open Tuesday to Friday and public holidays from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00, Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00, and Sundays from 10:00 to 14:30. It is closed on Mondays, as well as on 24, 25 and 31 December, 1 and 6 January, Maundy Thursday afternoon, Good Friday and 18 to 21 September. You can enter until 20 minutes before closing. There are lockers with keys to leave your things, and no flash photography, videos or selfies are allowed in the galleries. Groups of 8 to 25 people can request a guided tour, Tuesday to Friday, by writing to the museum.

It is on Calle Canónigos, two minutes from the cathedral. Allow an hour. For the photo of the houses from outside, cross the San Pablo bridge, and if you still want more abstract art, go up to the Antonio Pérez Foundation.