Bigger doesn’t always mean better.
House museums: hidden treasures and emporiums of oddities and eccentricity.
I went to Madrid to survey the museum scene and after visiting 12 in 3 days, my absolute favourites were the five house museums marketed together as “Five Museums, another Madrid”. You can buy tickets for each museums separately or get a ticket for all five for just 12€ which is valid for 10 days.
House museums, if you’re not familiar, are usually grand private houses that have been left to the state and which house private collections of art, sculpture, tapestries. The twin delights of house museums are the randomness of their collections and the low time commitment. You never know what you’re going to find and even if it you hate all of it, there are worse ways to spend an hour of your life.
You say collector, I say hoarder.
MUSEO CERRALBO
The Museo Cerralbo is the former home of Don Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo (1845-1922) and was built between 1884 and 1892 in a neoclassical style which also includes a small garden. It is relatively unassuming as you walk by but is rammed full of some 50,000 objects which include manuscripts, arms, coins, porcelain, paintings and busts-a-plenty distributed throughout the rooms of the house and vibe is similar to the John Soanes Museum in London.
You say collector, I say hoarder.
The jaw dropper is without question the ballroom, which is really something to behold and punches well above its weight. For those who are photographically inclined this place is heaven for playing with diffused light and depth of field. Drop that F-stop and head on over.
Coffee and cake without a side of sun stroke.
El Museo del Romanticismo
Jumping in our figurative DeLorean, we jump back about 100 years in time and end up at El Museo del Romanticismo, a window into 19th Century life for the upper crust of Madrid.
Located in a city palace built between 1776 and 1779, this house was the former residence of the Counts of Puebla del Maestre and in 1929 the property was turned into a museum.
Throughout its 26 rooms you encounter some 1400 gilded, tufted, tasseled, painted, enamelled, carved, and embroidered objects. From the ballroom to the nursery, every room has objects of interest and yet oddly feels really like a home that could still be in use.
The super-cute café in the back garden is well-shaded, so you can have your coffee and cake without a side of sun stroke.
Bring your own muscled men
Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas
This palace to museum transformation was inspired by the V&A in London and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The 30,000 piece collection, featuring plates, vases, jewellery and furniture from the most opulent palaces and mansions in Spain.
Sadly, virtually none of the 19th Palace feeling remains with the exception of the main staircase and inner courtyard.
I must also admit, I am not a big decorative arts person. Plates, flatware and vases never really do it for me. I am, however, a fan of strange ivory Jesuses, objects where you have to think “that is supposed to go where?” and of fancy sedan chairs. This museum has all of the above. Unfortunately, they do not have the two muscled Spanish men that are needed to carry said sedan chair which is #Sad.
Imagine the artist’s life in this space
El Museo del Sorolla
El Museo Sorolla, was built in 1910 as the studio-mansion of the Spanish impressionist painter Joaquin Sorolla (1862-1923). It also includes a very petite Andalusian-style garden which is heavily inspired by Islamic architecture. On a side note, Andalusia was one of the most amazing trips I have ever done. You should go.
Do not be put off if you don’t know who this painter is, I sure didn’t prior to darkening the museum’s door. He is famous for his Mediterranean beach scenes and for portraits of women and children. Sorolla only lived in the house for 13 years before his death and then the house and all its belongings were bequeathed to the Spanish government by his widow in 1925.
The museum, which opened in 1932, contains the house’s original decor and is filled with objects Sorolla acquired throughout his lifetime. The museum itself is relatively small, but it really has a nice lived-in feeling and it’s easy to imagine the artist’s life in this space.
This is my favourite kind of museum: a bit quirky and as happy to acknowledge the future as honour the past.
The Museo de la Fundación Lázaro Galdiano has a similar feeling to Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris, which is a secret favorite of mine. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable and the presentation of modern art in dialogue with objects from the permanent collection is a stroke of genius.
Galdiano was a financier, journalist, publisher and art collector who, by the time of his death, owned a massive and important art collection with some 12,600 pieces focusing mostly on the Iberian Peninsula. It is now housed in Galdiano’s 1903 opulent Neo-renaissance villa which was designed by Architect Jose Urioste who also designed the Spanish pavilion at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris.
There is no longer any feeling of how the building would have functioned as a home, but the conversion into a museum in 1951 respected the original interiors, which feature amazing baroque painted ceilings, extensive woodwork and the original wooden elevator which you can still ride. And I did ride it, probably more than I should have as an able-bodied adult.
The collection contains paintings by Velazquez, El Greco, Goya, Bosch, Turner and Reynolds as well as busts, ivories, incunabula (very old printed books) and an expertly presented jewelry collection. The museum is well lit, full of interesting quirky objects and is a paradise for photography as the staff are relaxed and allow you to contort yourself as needed to get that perfect angle.
BUT! Get there early! This museum is not really a secret in Madrid and you will soon be over-run by Karen with her comfortable shoes and big camera, and we don’t want that, now do we.
If you only go to one: Museo Lázaro Galdiano
Best for photographers: Museo Cerralbo
Walking tour
Book travel consulting with me
My photo equipment