Facade of Casa Botines in Leon, Spain.

© DoloresGiraldez/Getty Images/iStock

Museo Gaudí

León


Antoni Gaudí's contribution to León's skyline is the castle-like, neo-Gothic Casa Botines (1893), though the zany architect of Barcelona fame seems to have been subdued by more sober León. The interior includes displays on the great man, some interactive exhibits, a recreated 19th-century apartment and, on the top floor, some wonderful artworks, including a room devoted to watercolour interpretations of Dante's Inferno by Salvador Dalí (Room 7) and another with drawings by Goya (Room 2) from his Los Caprichos series.

A statue of Gaudí sits on a bench outside.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby León attractions

1. Palacio de los Guzmanes

0.03 MILES

León's recurring Renaissance theme finds expression in the splendid Palacio de los Guzmanes (1560), where the facade and patio stand out. The latter is…

2. Museo de León

0.04 MILES

Spread over four floors, the exhibits in this well-presented city museum begin with stone artefacts in the basement, thereafter journeying through the…

3. Ayuntamiento

0.06 MILES

Close to the main entrance into the old town, the ayuntamiento (town hall) occupies a charmingly compact Renaissance-era palace.

4. Muralla

0.15 MILES

Abutting the southwestern corner of the Real Colegiata de San Isidro is a fragment of the former muralla (old city wall). The wall dates to the 1st…

5. Real Basílica de San Isidoro

0.16 MILES

Even older than León's cathedral, the Real Basílica de San Isidoro provides a stunning Romanesque counterpoint to the former's Gothic strains. Fernando I…

6. Farmacia Alonso Nuñez

0.16 MILES

Don't miss the fabulous Farmacia Alonso Nuñez at number 3. It dates from 1827 and, aside from the displays of anti-wrinkle creams and condoms, the…

7. Real Colegiata de San Isidoro

0.17 MILES

Attached to the Real Basílica de San Isidoro, the stunning Panteón Real houses royal sarcophagi, which rest with quiet dignity beneath a canopy of some of…

8. Museo Sierra-Pambley

0.19 MILES

This stately house dates from the 19th century and was built by Segundo Sierra-Pambley, who founded one of the first schools in the region in 1887. The…