A visit or vacation stay in the very touristy Aro beach, on the Costa Brava, can offer you some truly peculiar corners.
Of course, on that visit you should not miss touring the coastal path through the coves of S'Agaro. But if you also go to the medieval town that is the origin of this holiday town, that is, Castell d´Aro, you will be surprised to discover a curious doll museum.
In an old room Benedormiens Castle, which was the headquarters of the town hall until 1962, after a restoration carried out in 1995, it became the home of the Castell d'Aro Doll Museum.
In this museum, more than 800 dolls are displayed that have their origin in the private collection of Josephine Teixidor, who donated it in his day for the creation of the Castell d´Aro museum. This collector created this fund from donations from individuals, embassies and commercial houses.
The museum is distributed in two rooms. On the ground floor you will find an exhibition of dolls from all over the world made with all types of materials, such as ceramics, straw, wood, plastic, ivory, wool, and even animal horn or coconut shell.
But perhaps it is the dolls on the second floor that arouse the most interest. It is a collection of antique dolls, with pieces that date back to the end of the 19th century, with which you will have a vision of the evolution of dolls.
These antique dolls belong to the private collection of Neus Borrell.
In this area of Doll Museum you find from those known as salon dolls, rag dolls that began to be manufactured from 1910, until the Mannequin dolls, made of porcelain at the end of the 19th century to be used by fashion designers to display their new designs.
Nor can one miss the Ladybug Perez, which was very popular from the 40s in Spain, conveying an image of a mother and family woman, which with its rounded shapes are the antithesis of the current Barbie.
You will also find it curious three faces doll, developed from the rise since 1909 of the so-called character dolls. very realistic looking, and of which you also have a sample in the museum.
In the collection there is no shortage of Chinese dolls, rag dolls, porcelain dolls or the so-called Cardboard Pepa.
The Visiting hours of the Castell d'Aro Doll Museum (2013) are, in summer, on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 18 to 21 p.m., and on weekends and holidays, from 11 a.m. to 13 p.m. and from 18 to 21 p.m. In winter it is only open on weekends and holidays, from 11 a.m. to 13 p.m. and from 17 p.m. to 19 p.m. (until 20 p.m. in June and September)
Here you have more photos of the Doll Museum.
I'm going to visit the Museum, but right now I'm seeing a tremendous error. The doll that they put as Mariquita Pérez is not such, but rather Malibú from Industrias Lopadi in Madrid, a competitor of Florido and with very similar dolls. Mariquita never had her nails painted. All the best
I have recently inherited a large collection of antique dolls, with the express desire that it be donated to a doll museum, preferably located in Catalonia.
If you are interested, I could provide you with a collection of photographs for your study.
That museum is a little scary, isn't it?