Figueres saw the birth of a unique character called Salvador Dalí. And that, like it or not, leaves a mark in the village forever. So the eccentric footprint of Dalí, in the form of Theatre-Museum is one of the great attractions of this town of Alt Empordà.
But do not think that the place hasn’t got hundreds of years behind. It even has a name which seems to come from the times of the Visigoths, although it wasn’t until the thirteenth century when the villa received a Royal Charter and started to appear through the pages of history.
Figueres was in a difficult situation, very close to the French border and, therefore, very close to the wars, troubles and disputes on both sides of the Pyrenees. So it had its medieval wall accordingly, and in the eighteenth century the enormous castle of San Fernando, or Sant Ferran, was built. A great fortification which is among the best preserved in Europe and that, with its moats and bastions it’s the largest monument in all of Catalonia. It was in its stables where, in 1939, the Court of the Republic met for the last time before leaving for exile.
Around a hundred years after the castle was built a nice theatre was erected in Figueres, which would end up being bombed in the Civil War and later restored to host the Dalí Museum. As you have probably imagined it receives, every year, thousands of visitors attracted by the magnetic personality of Don Salvador.
The Theatre-Museum is crowned by that collection of giant eggs that you have probably seen in many photographs, and in its interior, there is not only many of the works of the surrealist genius, but also his own tomb. Dalí was fully involved in the project, and every corner is impregnated with his volcanic temper: the one of an artist who once said that the only difference between a crazy person and him was that he was not crazy.
Once you have seen the castle and the Dalí complex, there is still another special place to see: the Toy Museum of Catalonia, which houses an incredible collection of thousands of pieces including tricycles, robots, trains, spinning tops, building sets and anything that comes to your mind.
