CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA MUSEOA

Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa is a public institution whose purpose is to preserve, research and share the figure and works of fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in his hometown, Getaria. Inaugurated in June 2011, it constantly welcomes exhibitions and programming related to the couturier and the fashion world, and is home to one of this well-known creator’s most relevant collections.

The Balenciaga Museum is housed in a newly built annex to Palacio Aldamar. This majestic villa, on a hilltop overlooking Getaria, was the residence of the Marqués and Marquesa of Casa Torres, grandparents to Queen Fabiola of Belgium and mentors to Balenciaga during the early days of his career.

It is a large, long, curved space, trapezoidal in section, complete with an integrated floor-toceiling glass wall. Inside the building there are three suspended areas which house the galleries.

The seeming neutrality of the front façade, a dark uninterrupted vertical plane which folds in on itself to frame the Museum’s main entrance, is clearly intended to allow the Palacio to predominate in all its symbolic splendour.

The interiors: floors, walls, colours and fittings are designed to create a calm, enveloping ambience where natural light is soft and muted. The use of dark grey on the bigger interior walls visually reduces their size and humanises our perception of the huge scale of the building. Strategic use of bright colours helps to define the different spaces – reception area, shop, multifunctional hall and cafeteria-. The interior design is such that while distinct and separate areas have been created with a clear functional objective in mind, they still retain a welcoming atmosphere. The suspended areas in the exhibition halls are completely dark, covered in a twin-layer with a sheet metal overlay cut into very large floral shapes which add both depth and lightness.

ACCESSIBILITY

The Balenciaga Museum has no architectural barriers. 

The building is designed to facilitate both public visits and movement of collections for study and preservation. 

Adapted lifts are used to access the halls. 

All of the routes in the permanent exhibition halls are flat, with wide corridors. 

The halls for reservation are large, with centralised spaces. 

Facilities and services are modern and adapted.

HOW TO REACH

GPS:
3º 44' 53,4" (N)
56º 54' 32,42" (W)

ADMISSION

ADMISSION GENERAL 12 €

REDUCED 9€
Youth (until 18 years)
Retirees and pensioners
Students
Teachers
Unemployed
Getaria residents

FREE
Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa friends
Child (until 9 years)
ICOM members

10% DISCOUNT
Groups of over 10 people and large families