Casa Cristo, the poor Andorra you won't see on postcards

Andorra sells itself on shops, slopes and spas, and it’s hard to picture that less than a century ago people here lived on very little. Casa Cristo shows it without any lecturing, through a narrow house, a stone sink and an inherited christening gown. That’s why, for me, it’s the museum in Encamp where you learn the most per minute.

A labourers’ home frozen in 1947

Casa Cristo is a three-storey village house in Encamp’s old quarter, in the La Mosquera settlement. According to museus.ad it was built at the end of the eighteenth century and has survived with its layout and fittings intact. Andorra Tourism describes it as the home of a family of day labourers, the lowest rung of Andorran society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

It was lived in until 1947, when the last owners emigrated to France, though museus.ad says they still came back for some summers. The council bought it in 1995, restored it and opened it as a museum, in 2000 according to Andorra Tourism.

What you’ll find on its three floors

The house is narrow because it had to fit a tiny plot, but each floor had its job. There’s a cellar, a store for work tools and, on the top floor, the “upstairs room”, used for more social and festive occasions. Details fill every corner, a stone slab sink, a full linen press, a hidden chest of drawers for keeping money and a century-old christening gown handed down through the family.

What I like most is the mix of austerity and dignity, as Andorra Tourism puts it. There’s nothing grand here, and that’s exactly why it moves you.

What’s the guided visit like?

You can walk round on your own or in a group, but the guided visit makes the difference. Guides share stories about the family and the house, often gathered round the hearth, which was the heart of daily life. Andorra Tourism mentions groups of up to ten and advance booking, and museus.ad lists visits in Catalan, Spanish, English and French. The house also runs special visits and events at certain times of year.

One important warning. The house isn’t adapted for people with reduced mobility, so if someone in your party can’t manage stairs, this isn’t the outing for you.

Opening hours and tickets

From September to June it opens Tuesday to Saturday, 9:00 to 13:30 and 14:30 to 18:00. July and August bring daily opening, 9:30 to 19:00, and the last visitors go in thirty minutes before the doors shut. An adult ticket is €5.40; children, students, teachers and pensioners pay €3.20, and with the PassMuseu it drops to €2.70. The details are in the tables.

Is it worth it with children or on a ski trip?

With children, yes, if they can listen for half an hour. The house is small, the objects explain themselves, from the stone sink to the fireplace, and comparing it with home gives plenty to talk about. With a pushchair, I’d skip it because of the stairs.

On a ski holiday it makes a good afternoon, as in winter it opens until 18:00 Tuesday to Saturday and it’s a few minutes from the Funicamp. Just remember it’s shut on Sundays and Mondays from September to June, so if you arrive at the weekend, aim for the Saturday.

The three rural-life houses

Casa Cristo makes more sense by comparison. Andorra Tourism places it alongside two other ethnographic houses in the country, Casa d’Areny-Plandolit in Ordino, home to a gentry family, and Casa Rull in Sispony, home to better-off landowning farmers. The three form the Rural Habitat trail, and seeing them together is the best social history lesson Andorra offers.

What to pair it with

Encamp’s old quarter starts right outside, and the La Mosquera and El Tremat walk leads to the Guillem mill. For another museum, the National Car Museum is a few minutes away and also takes the PassMuseu.

Getting there is easy. From Andorra la Vella, national bus L2 drops you in Encamp, and the house is only a short walk from the main road through the village. Drivers can leave the car in the council car park at El Tremat, which the parish map marks just round the corner.