How was printed what is probably the most universal work of our literature? What anecdotes surrounded the process? The Sociedad Cervantina (Calle de Atocha, 87) is reopening the doors of the Quixote Printing Press, the only real vestige of Cervantes that remains in Madrid and the place where the first edition of his most famous work was printed in 1605.
In these guided tours, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the entire publishing process, as it was done during the Golden Age. And not only that: “anecdotes related to the printing and dissemination of Don Quixote and the life of Cervantes himself” will also be revealed.
All this in the setting of a historic building from the 16th century -one of the few remaining in the capital- in which this workshop has been restored and recovered with an exact replica of the movable type printing press with which, in addition to Cervantes’ immortal work, other titles by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina or Calderón de la Barca were printed.
Tickets for the Quixote Printing Press
Tickets can be purchased through the website of the Cervantes Society and are priced at 5,10€. Visits will take place on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm and Sundays at 12 noon.
However, on the occasion of Easter Week, these first days of opening will be Saturday April 12 and Tuesday 15 at 12h.
The Printing Museum of Madrid
Just 10 minutes walk from the Cervantine Society we find the Municipal Printing – Book Arts of Madrid (Calle de la Concepción Jerónima, 15), a space born in the nineteenth century as Municipal Printing and Lithography and inaugurated in 2011 as a museum.
Admission is free and throughout its more than 3,500 square meters you can find pieces such as a printing press of the seventeenth century, a press of 1789 or a typewriter Planeta 1930.