The house museum of Miguel de Unamuno is a house located in the historic center of Salamanca. It is known for having been the dwelling place of Miguel de Unamuno when he was the Rector of the University of Salamanca, and is now a museum dedicated to his life in general and more specifically during his stay from 1900 to 1914. The Unamuno house museum is now part of Servicio de Archivos y Bibliotecas of the University of Salamanca.
This house was built in the 18th century and it belongs to the University. The construction project was approved in June 1758 and it lasted from 1758 to 1762. It was designed by Andrés García de Quiñones, who was also the designer of other important buildings of Salamanca.
The building is located to the right of the Escuelas Mayores, in Calderón de la Barca Street. An emblem of the University of Salamanca that reads “OMNIVM SCIENTARVM PRINCERPS SALMANTICA DOCET” is all the decoration it has. The square-based building has two floors: in the ground floor Salón Oficial is located and it was used to celebrate the meetings of the Academic Senate, and it is currently used as a music classroom and in the first floor there are houses and also offices.
Unamuno started to live in this house after being hired as a Rector in 1900, but he already worked there as an ancient Greek teacher. In the first floor is where he used to write his poems and most of his novels.
In 1952, it started to be adapted to be a museum and, for instance, furniture was placed in the first floor. It also holds Unamuno’s personal library, with more than 6,000 books, donated by the University of Salamanca. In 1976 and 1977 it was given the proper historic ambiance to recreate the environment in which Unamuno lived, and it ended in 1996 when the museum was eventually opened to the public.
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