Dali Theatre-Museum, Figueres

Dali built this museum inside the shell of Figueres' ruined municipal theatre and opened it in 1974, treating the whole building as a single work rather than a container for others. The exterior carries giant eggs and rows of gilded bread rolls; a glass geodesic dome sits over the old auditorium. Inside, rooms are staged as illusions: a sitting room that assembles into a face when viewed through a lens, a car in the courtyard with rain falling inside it, a ceiling of enormous foreshortened figures. A jewellery collection of moving gold pieces sits alongside. Dali is buried in a crypt under the stage, which he chose himself.

What you actually see

• The facade and dome - eggs, bread rolls and a glass geodesic dome over the auditorium.
• The Mae West room - furniture that resolves into a face through a viewing lens.
• The Rainy Taxi - a courtyard car with water falling on the passengers inside.
• The jewellery rooms - gold pieces with moving parts, designed rather than painted.

When to go

Spring and autumn, on a weekday if possible. Timed tickets sell out days ahead in summer and over long weekends, so book rather than turn up. Summer evening openings exist in some years and are far calmer than the daytime scrum. Two hours is the minimum; three if the jewellery rooms interest you.

Honest expectations

It is crowded almost all year, and several rooms are a shuffling queue rather than a viewing. The collection is theatrical staging more than major painting, and anyone arriving for the melting clocks will not find them here, since that canvas is in New York. Figueres itself is a plain market town with little reason to linger afterwards.

Nearby

The Dali house at Portlligat, Gala's castle at Pubol and the Cap de Creus coast.