Antonio Marco Museum in Guadalest

The Antonio Marco Museum, better known as the Cristmas Crib and Dolls’ House Museum, is located in El Castell de Guadalest, a picturesque mountain villaje at the head of the Guadalest Valley, flanked by the mountain ranges of Aitana, Xortà and Serrella. This village is the most visited in Spain with over 2 million visitors a year. It is just 22 kilometres from the beaches of Benidorm, 1 hour from Alicante and 2 hours from Valencia.

It is the monographic work of the artist Antonio Marco, born in Yecla and resident for many years in Requena, who was an artisan, model builder, Christmas crib maker
and collector all his life. Here in the Christmas Crib room we conserve his first work, which he carried out at the age of 8, and also the last, at the age of 80.

As the artist used to say, here you will not see traditional wooden dolls’ houses which can be opened at the front or the roof to play with them. You will discover real houses, built on a scale of 1:12, in stone, tile, brick and cement, with all their indoor décor, wooden and iron furniture, lighting, crockery, etc. Inside you can also discover photos from the family album.

The top floor features a Christmas crib weighing 14 tons, built on the natural rock which goes right through the building. On it the artist carried out his magnificent work in genuine materials, stone, cement, brick etc. It is set at the turn of the XX century, with fountains, waterfalls, a river with fish, machinery in motion and natural vegetation thanks to the microclimate created. You will also find a train from this period as, according to the artist, Jesus Christ was born for all times.

Distributed throughout the three floors of the museum you will also discover an attractive collection of old toys, which will take more than one back to the days of their childhood.

The Museum opened in 1992 and since then our thousands of visitors have been truly impressed and pleasantly surprised by this unique work. We look forward to welcoming you and we are sure you will be the next to share the opinion of the public up to now.