Francisco del Rio Cuenca, Casa de las Conchas (“House of Shells”)
ShareAdd page to my spacesNearby Environments
15.0 miles away
Antonio Aguilera Ruedas, La Casa de la Piedra [The House of Stone]
Porcuna, Spain
72.2 miles away
Roberto Pérez, La finca de las piedras encantadas [The farm of the enchanted stones]
Granada, Spain
78.6 miles away
Juan Muñoz Benítez
Dílar, Spain
86.6 miles away
Francisco Palma Jiménez, La casa de las conchas [The Shell House]
Albuñuelas, Spain
92.1 miles away
Freddie Zuidijk
Nerja, Spain
98.9 miles away
Esteban Martín Martín, Castillo Monumento de Colomares
Benalmádena, Spain- Explore all art environments using a map
Location:
Montoro, Spain (Map)
Status:
Threatened
Artist:
Built:
begun 1960
Materials:
shells
Visiting Information
Visitors are welcomed with the payment of a small fee.












Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Date of photo: 2008
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Used with permission of the photographer, Jo Farb Hernández
Have pictures? Know More?
Find out how to contribute to this site.
Learn more about using our images for your personal use
About the Artist/Site
In 1957, after a truck accidentally dumped thousands of scallops near his inland home in Montoro (Córdoba), Spain, Francisco del Rio Cuenca decided to pick them up, thinking he might make use of them some day. Riding back and forth on his motorcycle over the next two years, he brought hundreds of bags of scallops from the accident site to where he was building his small two-story home. In 1960, soon after construction was finished, he began ornamenting the façade of the house with shells, thinking this would enable him to avoid the annual drudgery of whitewashing it. It wasn’t less work, he conceded, but at least it only had to be done once. When he completed that task, however, he continued on, and began covering the interior walls as well as the ceilings, stairs, flowerpots, and even the trees behind the house with shells—creating a baroque bas-relief incrustation of movement and texture throughout. Pushing back beyond the footprint of the house to create a series of three interconnecting patios behind, each eked out one by one from the barren terrain, he ornamented each surface of each one, with layers upon layers of embellishment. His property now boasts over 116 million shells, many received as gifts from visitors. A fieldworker who can barely read or write, del Rio built his environment single-handedly and without financial help, but the municipality now recognizes his creation as a tourist attraction. Although del Rio put his property up for sale in 2009, as of the date of this writing (2011) it had not yet been purchased, and visitors are welcomed with the payment of a small fee. Del Rio hopes that the purchaser will maintain the house as a museum.
~Jo Farb Hernández
Map and site information
Not Exact Address
Montoro, Andalucía, Spain
Latitude/Longitude: 38.025881 / -4.3825
Visiting Information
Visitors are welcomed with the payment of a small fee.