Day 17 - Arab House Museum

This lovely museum really impressed and moved me. It seems at the moment I appreciate examples of daily life from the past rather than grand monuments, palaces and churches.
These words come from the brochure …

Mr José de la Torre Gentil, born in Cáceres, was the founder of this museum. He bought the building in the 1960s and made it his residence. While doing some construction work on the house he discovered the remains of an Arab dwelling erected on an ancient Roman site which dated back to the 12 century and included a thermal and heating system
As Mr de la Torre became aware of the importance of his discovery he undertook a personal journey that would eventually lead to the inauguration of this house museum.
This dream of his however was not easy to to fulfil: in fact it took him about 15 years to open to the public.
During this enterprise, which he initiated at the age of 50, Mr de la Torre delved into the fields of humanities, law and Hispanic-Islamic art.
Thanks to his dedication as well as to his travels around the world in search of help, information and resources he finally achieved his goal: to offer his visitors a unique, rigourous view of Cáceres’ Arab past.
In one of his trips to Iraq the director of the National Museum Baghdad transferred him all his knowledge which helped Mr de la Torre inaugurate the museum in 1976, by order of the ambassador Mr Ahmed Hussain.
Nowadays the founder’s offspring have taken over his tireless endeavour and continue to open the museum to the public so as to ensure that any curious traveller who passes by can see the outcome of the dream of a man who devoted a big part of his life to the history of this house museum.
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