Casa Orduña (Museo Municipal)

Casa Orduña, also known as Casa Gran, is a 17th-century manor house standing at the highest point of Guadalest, beside the path that climbs to the Castillo de San José. It was built after the earthquake of 22 June 1644, which destroyed much of the castle's outbuildings and the neighbouring Alcozaiba fortress.

The Orduña family

The Orduña family, of Basque origin, arrived in Guadalest in the service of the local marquises and served as castle wardens and governors of their estates from the 17th century onward. During the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1708, Bourbon troops advancing after the battle of Almansa looted and burned the house. The family recovered over time: in 1756, Pedro Antonio Buenaventura de Orduña entered the Military Order of Santiago, confirming the lineage's rise within the Valencian nobility.

What to see

The house now operates as the town's municipal museum. Its rooms hold furniture, paintings and everyday objects from the 18th and 19th centuries that belonged to the family, along with ceramics and a processional image of the Virgin of the Assumption, the town's patron. The visit is short but gives a clear sense of how minor rural nobility lived in a settlement this hemmed in by mountains.

Admission is ticketed, and the house is usually visited together with the Cementerio del Castillo and the ruined fortress above, since they share the same stretch of path from the Portal de San José. Go early, before the tour groups arrive — Guadalest is a regular stop on inland day trips and, despite its size, once held eight separate museums, including the Museo Etnológico nearby.