Celestino Solar Citadel

Close to San Lorenzo beach, it is one of those almost secret places of Gijón life. One of those places with a soul that will give you an idea of what life was like in those hidden, collective working-class neighbourhoods that were so abundant throughout Europe, and which in the city of Gijón/Xixón, due to its intense industrial history, came to number more than 200.

The Capua citadel was the best known of all those that existed in Gijón/Xixón, and its origin is associated with the development and implementation of the Plan de Ensanche del Arenal de San Lorenzo. It was built in 1877 by Celestino González Solar, an indiano who returned from Cuba.

The houses were occupied by approximately eighty to one hundred people until they were completely uninhabited in 1987.
The houses were usually inhabited by a married couple, their children and the parents of one of the spouses. There were also many single women, widows and single mothers surviving on precarious employment.

The houses were usually very small, about 30 square metres in size and only one floor. Toilets and other services were common and located in the courtyard. As a result, they were a constant source of criticism for the conditions in which people lived, and they gradually disappeared or were transformed into warehouses and small artisans' workshops.

During the visit, which is free of charge, you can see what this citadel was like and see one of its houses, as well as listen to the testimonies of those who lived here until a few years ago, telling you what their day-to-day life was like.