3.5
Free folk museum, good for a rainy day in Gijón
https://www.gijon.es/en/directorio/museum-asturian-people
As you might have seen from my other reviews, I recently went to Gijón for a holiday, attracted by the accessible Poniente beach, accessible Hotel Silken and general welcoming atmosphere for wheelchair and scooter users. On the north coast of Spain, however, it's not going to be sunny every day, and this is where museums come in.
The Museum of the Asturian People is a bit like the Weald and Downland or Black Country museums in England, in that it gathers surviving examples of traditional rural buildings and rebuilds them brick by brick on one site. There is also a modern museum building on the site which displays artefacts like traditional cooking utensils donated by Asturian families.
The access to the main museum building is good, with a lift to each floor and disabled toilets. As is often the case in Gijón, there isn't much English on offer from the staff or in the displays, but from my knowledge of French and Italian, I was able to make out a fair bit of the information in standard Spanish and Asturian dialect. It was certainly interesting to find out that the province of Asturias is the home of Spanish chocolate!
Outside in the grounds of the museum it was harder work on my scooter, with some rather knobbly paths. I was able to go into one or two of the traditional houses that had ground floor entrances, but not those that were built in a style that had farm storage underneath a raised living area accessed by steps. I figured that this was fair enough for these old buildings, but I was disappointed by a more modern building that had a display of bagpipes upstairs and no lift, as I like musical instrument museums and knew this was a particular attraction there (bagpipes are a feature of the province of Asturias, which has Celtic roots).
Disappointment is never so bad when a museum is free, though, and overall I enjoyed our time there. There isn't a cafe or a shop but we were able to get something to eat on the day from some stalls of traditional food and crafts set up in the grounds.
https://www.gijon.es/en/directorio/museum-asturian-people
As you might have seen from my other reviews, I recently went to Gijón for a holiday, attracted by the accessible Poniente beach, accessible Hotel Silken and general welcoming atmosphere for wheelchair and scooter users. On the north coast of Spain, however, it's not going to be sunny every day, and this is where museums come in.
The Museum of the Asturian People is a bit like the Weald and Downland or Black Country museums in England, in that it gathers surviving examples of traditional rural buildings and rebuilds them brick by brick on one site. There is also a modern museum building on the site which displays artefacts like traditional cooking utensils donated by Asturian families.
The access to the main museum building is good, with a lift to each floor and disabled toilets. As is often the case in Gijón, there isn't much English on offer from the staff or in the displays, but from my knowledge of French and Italian, I was able to make out a fair bit of the information in standard Spanish and Asturian dialect. It was certainly interesting to find out that the province of Asturias is the home of Spanish chocolate!
Outside in the grounds of the museum it was harder work on my scooter, with some rather knobbly paths. I was able to go into one or two of the traditional houses that had ground floor entrances, but not those that were built in a style that had farm storage underneath a raised living area accessed by steps. I figured that this was fair enough for these old buildings, but I was disappointed by a more modern building that had a display of bagpipes upstairs and no lift, as I like musical instrument museums and knew this was a particular attraction there (bagpipes are a feature of the province of Asturias, which has Celtic roots).
Disappointment is never so bad when a museum is free, though, and overall I enjoyed our time there. There isn't a cafe or a shop but we were able to get something to eat on the day from some stalls of traditional food and crafts set up in the grounds.
