Museo El Castillo
A Gothic-revival house of 1930 in Medellin, built for a coffee family and left with its furnishings and formal gardens.
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The house was built in 1930 for Jose Tobon Uribe in a Gothic-revival manner modelled on the chateaux of the Loire, and bought in 1943 by Diego Echavarria Misas, a textile industrialist, and his wife Benedikta Zur Nieden - they filled it with what they collected in Europe and Asia and left it, with everything in it, to become a museum on their deaths. That history has a darker end: their daughter Isolda died young, and Echavarria himself was kidnapped and killed in 1971, a case that marked the city. The gardens are formal French style with a rose garden and terraces looking over the valley, and are used for concerts and events.
What you actually see
- A 1930 Gothic-revival house - modelled on Loire chateaux.
- The Echavarria collection - European and Asian objects, left in place.
- Formal French gardens - with terraces over the valley.
- A family history that ended badly - the 1971 kidnapping and killing.
When to go
Year round. An hour and a half.
Honest expectations
The house is seen by guided tour, mostly in Spanish. It is in the hills above El Poblado and needs a taxi. Events close the gardens at times. It is small for the journey.
Nearby
El Poblado is below; Medellin's centre is north-west.
What to pack for Museo El Castillo
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.