Museo del Bandolero, Banditry museum in El Borge, Spain
The Museo del Bandolero is a history museum in El Borge dedicated to the world of bandits in the Serrania de Ronda region of Andalusia. The collection spans over 1,300 objects including weapons, clothing, documents, and personal items from several centuries, arranged across five thematic sections.
This museum started in 1995 focused on banditry from the 18th and 19th centuries around the Ronda area. The entire collection relocated to its current home in El Borge in 2020.
The museum takes its name from the bandoleros, outlaws who robbed travellers in the mountains around Ronda and hid from the authorities there. Its scenographies recreate a 'Mesón', a 'Secuestro' and a 'Cueva', with figures dressed in period costume. A comic collection of more than 200 issues from around 1940 narrates the bandits' lives, alongside portraits of El Tempranillo, Diego Corrientes Mateos, Tragabuches and Francisco Ríos González.
The museum occupies five rooms of a small 19th-century building, so the visit is short and follows a single route through the themed sections. The library of 495 volumes, some from 1823 onward, is part of the collection rather than a reading room for visitors.
An exhibition called 'Viajeros románticos' documents actual encounters between travelers and bandits in the Serrania de Ronda from historical records. This section shows how real adventures became legends passed down in travel accounts.
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