Workers' Athenaeum
Chapter 2/12 · Villaviciosa
This is the building of the Workers' Athenaeum, one of the town's most long-standing societies. It was founded on 4 March 1911 as the «Workers' Athenaeum and Casino», at the suggestion of the electrician Cristóbal Cano, to give lessons in arithmetic, drawing and grammar to workers' children. By 1926 it already had more than five hundred members.
The building opened in August 1922 and was paid for by everyone: the members and the townspeople who had emigrated to Havana contributed, the Marquis of Villaviciosa, Pedro Pidal, gave the land, the architect Manuel del Busto donated the plans, and the workers themselves built it in their spare time. Today it is still a cultural centre, with workshops, theatre and exhibitions.
We carry on to the Riera Theatre.
Start · Villaviciosa