Museum of the giant of Extremadura

The Museo del Gigante Extremeño (Museum of the Giant of Extremadura), located in the Casa de la Cultura of Puebla de Alcocer, in the county of La Siberia, is dedicated to the figure of Agustín Luengo Capilla, a local who lived between 1849 and 1875 and grew to measure 2.35 metres.

The museum tells the story of this young man, who was considered as one of the tallest men of his time

A full-scale ninot (sculpture) of Agustín made by a fallas master from Valencia is on display along with other objects related to Luengo Capilla’s life, such as a hat and two large posters, three metres in height, used to advertise the circus in which he worked from age 12.

Also on display are the size 52 boots given to him by King Alfonso XII after he visited him in the Royal Palace in October 1875, two months before he died at 26 (on the 31 December 1875) due to a condition called acromegaly.

The Giant of Extremadura was a celebrity of his time.

In Madrid, he met Pedro González Velasco, which at the time had been commissioned with creating the National Anthropology Museum, Dr. González Velasco offered to pay him 2.5 pesetas per day for the rest of his life, in exchange for him donating his body to the Museum once he passed away.

Agustín agreed and complied; and that so his skeleton is on permanent display in the National Anthropology Museum of Madrid. The history of Agustín Luengo Capilla is but one of the many attractions of Puebla de Alcocer, which is located right in the middle of the Nature Reserve of La Siberia, and has an impressive 15th century castle built over a rock almost 7000 m tall, and many beautiful manors.

Pictures: Museum of the giant of Extremadura.