Casa Cristo (Etnographic Museum)

Casa Cristo Ethnographic Museum (Museu Etnogràfic Casa Cristo) occupies a three-storey stone farmhouse in the historical centre of Encamp, in the Principality of Andorra. The building dates to the late eighteenth century and represents a characteristic example of traditional Andorran rural domestic architecture — a narrow, functional structure with a cellar at ground level, living quarters across the middle floors, and a festive upper room on the top floor used for communal gatherings.

The house was a lived-in family home until 1947, when its last residents, known locally as Merse and Florentina, decided to relocate permanently to France, leaving the interior virtually untouched across the following decades. The Comú of Encamp purchased the property in 1995 and undertook a careful restoration to preserve the building's original fabric, fixtures, and contents before opening it to the public in 2000.

The museum's curatorial approach is immersive rather than thematic: original furnishings, household objects, and agricultural tools remain in the positions they occupied when the house was last inhabited. Visitors move through the ground-floor cellar, where agricultural implements document the hand tools of Andorran subsistence farming; through the kitchen and living spaces on the middle floors, which retain a slate sink, ceramic cookware, and period textiles; and finally into the upper room — a space that served the household as a communal social and festive area. A wardrobe in the living quarters preserves a centennial christening outfit among other linen garments, providing a tangible record of family milestones across multiple generations.

The collection centres on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, presenting everyday objects — from weaving looms and oil lamps to wooden furniture and hand tools — that illustrate how a humble peasant family in this Pyrenean principality lived, worked, and marked the seasons. No attempt has been made to sanitise or restage the interior: the rough stone walls, low ceilings, and worn floors remain as the family left them, lending the museum an authenticity that is rare among reconstructed period houses.

Guided tours are conducted in Catalan, Spanish, French, and English, making the museum accessible to international visitors. The site participates in Andorra's PASSMUSEU scheme, which provides discounted combined entry across the principality's museum network. Admission for adults is €5.40, with reduced rates for children, students, pensioners, and youth-card holders, and free entry for visitors with reduced mobility and ICOM members. Casa Cristo is administered by the Comú of Encamp and stands a short walk from the parish church of Sant Pere Màrtir, anchoring a viable half-day cultural circuit in the historic centre of Encamp.