The Raphael Museum is located in El Pósito ?an outstanding building from the 18th century in the city centre of Linares. It has more than 400 objects and original documents of the artist.
The route through the museum is completed with the aid of a tablet and a pair of headphones. It is an immersive visit through the collection, navigating through all the audiovisual contents of the artist’s history. This audioguide, full of relevant images –some of them unpublished–, aids to understand the artist’s career –with a spectacular welcoming video narrated by Raphael himself.
After it, visitors get to the first area, dedicated to Rafael Martos Sánchez’ childhood and adolescence. In it, visitors will find unique documents, such as his birth certificate, family photos or certificates of radio contests given to “Rafael Granados”, one of the nicknames that the artist, without the “PH” spelling in his name, used at the end of the 50s.
The following space deals with the 60s, Raphael’s golden age. A small Broadway decorated with great neons –which simulate the marquees of some theatres of the great worldwide capitals that the artist visited for the first time– contains his first photos as a professional, the prize obtained in the Festival of Benidorm in 1962, his first Golden Record for “La canción del tamborilero” in 1965, original posters of his most emblematic performances and much more.
In the 70s, we find special and personal objects such as a desk which was part of the furniture of his house in New York, one of his cameras, a portable record player, posters of his performances in London, Japan, Australia, the former Soviet Union…
In the 80s, we find his 20th and 25th anniversary posters all over the word, including the Radio City Music Hall in New York and a mock-up model of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where the artist gave a large and almost mythical concert in 1985.
The 90s contains the plaque of the street with his name in Linares, the poster of one of his concerts in the Carnegie Hall in Nueva York during his 30th anniversary tour and the one of his comeback to Russia in 1997.
Linking this first four decades, through one of the laterals of the museum, we find one of the greatest attractions of the museum: a collection of suits, original and unique, that he wore on stage. Among them, the clown costume stands out –he wore it when singing “La balada de la trompeta” in the film “Sin un adiós”–, together with the tailcoats with spangles of the musicals “Billy the liar” and “Pippin”, the coat and the top hat of “Jekyll & Hyde”, jackets that he wore in his performances and the most emblematic photo shoots and, of course, a black suit.
The 2000s are centred on his 50th anniversary, including the posters of his concerts in the Liceo in Barcelona, Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, and in his most recent productions. Moreover, we can find at the end of the tour through the different decades a great glass window behind which his record collection is exposed.
The last room of the museum is, perhaps, the most surprising one. In the awards room , we find the most important prizes given to the artist. He has been praised for his work and for the quality of his interpretations, having obtained more than 300 golden records, more than 50 platinum records and the legendary Uranium Award, from which there are only three in the world, as he obtained more than 50 million sales.
The Raphael Museum aims to be, above all, an unforgettable experience.
www.museoraphael.es
EL PÓSITO LINARES – Raphael Museum
Iglesia, 5 – 23700 Linares, Jaén
Phone: (+34) 953 10 01 83
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es
Web: www.museoraphael.es
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MuseoRaphael
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MuseoRaphael
Opening Hours:
Winter:
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 19:00
Summer (June to September):
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 14:00 and 18:00 -20:00
Tickets:
Individual ticket: €3
Children (6 to 18 years), students, over 65: €2
Groups over 20 people: €2
People with disabilities: €1
People born or currently living in Linares: €1
Children under 6: free access