The Lithograph Museum reopens its doors in spring after having an extension built. It is one of Cádiz’s most original attractions, transporting visitors back to Cádiz’s glorious sophisticated past and giving them an idea of the affluence of its bay.

It was in this refined environment that money as legal tender needed to be printed as did civil and religious certificates, labels for wine, chocolates or cigars, posters advertising bullfights or boxing and maps amongst other documents.

During the War of Independence, for example, more than 50 different newspapers were printed. As is fitting for a city where the freedom to print was declared and practised, wooden hand printing presses could print 3000 sheets non-stop in 24 hours.

As might be expected in a city where the printing presses rolled with such frenetic energy and with the rapidly growing need to print illustrations, the revolutionary new lithographic techniques arrived early, in 1820 only 10 years after its inventor Aloys Senefelder published the first treatise in Germany.


In Spain, only Madrid, Barcelona and Cádiz knew how to use this invention which revolutionised the world of graphic arts and which is still used creatively today for some works of art.

The business of art and artists

The first to use these techniques was the Sociedad Gaditana de Amigos del País with machinery imported from France. However, as far as the Museum is concerned, the true story begins in 1861 with the old Litografía Alemana in Cádiz where artistic printing went on until the end of the 20th century. One of its workers, a skilled artistic engraver called Nicolaus Múller, gave such a boost to business that a team of first class draughtsmen and engravers were needed.

Such prolific activity has left its mark on the city which conserves one of the few museums of its kind in Spain and the most complete, with more than a thousand lithographic stones, drawing tables, printing proofs and guillotines which were used to produce proofs and illustrations, both manually and industrially, with exceptional quality.

There is equipment which still works perfectly in the expert hands of engraving artists and specialists such as Luis de Rivas, a teacher and enthusiast who is passionate about relaying to new generations the importance of the Museum and the beauty of lithographic works.

Stones weighing 300 kilos 
Amongst the most striking pieces found in the museum is a huge stone weighing more than 300 kilos and a manual press crafted in Paris in 1850 and one of the few remaining in the world.

The Museum is worth visiting just to see its location in the very vaults of the gates of the city, “las Puertas de Tierra”, Cádiz’s most emblematic monument, and a visit will take you back to the romantic world of 19th century Cádiz.

You can visit the Lithograph museum/workshop at Bóvedas de San Roque s/n from next spring on Tuesdays to Fridays (mornings and afternoons) and on Saturdays and Sundays (morning only). While you are there at the “Puertas de Tierra” have a look at the three dimensional representation of what Cádiz was like in 18th century.

More than 300,000 euros of European funds via the programme Cultur-Cad have enabled expansion work to be carried out on the Lithograph Museum w