Welcome

Welcome to the Royal Collections Gallery, an institution open to all, combining modernity and tradition. A museum in a magnificent 21st century building offering to visitors a selection of the collections assembled by the successive kings of Spain over the last five centuries, nowadays belonging to the Spanish State and whose care, conservation and dissemination is the responsibility of Patrimonio Nacional, an autonomous agency under the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Parliament.

With a chronologically ordered storytelling, from the end of the Middle Ages to the present day, the Gallery offers an interesting dialogue between pieces: paintings by great masters such as Juan de Flandes, Velázquez, Caravaggio, Bernini and Goya, with the most exquisite examples of decorative arts, furniture, books, musical instruments, armors and tapestries.

A walk through its galleries allows the visitor, on the one hand, to understand how royal patronage made culture flourish, taste evolve, promote technological achievements and create wealth and knowledge, and on the other, to learn about the current work of management and conservation of the royal collections and of our national heritage as a whole, which is essential to guarantee its legacy for future generations.

The Royal Collections Gallery, opened in the summer of 2023, was created with the vocation of being the best showcase for the palaces, monasteries, churches, mountains and patronages managed by Patrimonio Nacional, fascinating scenarios of power and centres of political activity, knowledge and spirituality, located in 6 autonomous communities. Monumental complexes such as the Royal Palace of Madrid, the palaces of La Granja de San Ildefonso or Aranjuez, the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial or the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales, many of them endowed with rich libraries and archives, essential places for consultation and knowledge, have their presence in the Gallery storytelling.

In this way, the Gallery is conceived as a complement to the Royal Sites: in these, artworks are preserved and exhibited in their context, while, at the Gallery, they can be admired in a different way: chronologically exhibited, relating to other objects from the same period, and in constant rotation, so that the permanent exhibition can include cultural goods coming from all the Royal Sites of Patrimonio Nacional.

To undertake this work, the Gallery has the support of professionals and staff of Patrimonio Nacional; its director is Víctor Cageao, also director of Royal Collections of Patrimonio Nacional, and its deputy directors are Irene Domènech and Antonio Sánchez-Luengo. They all work to make the Gallery an essential visit in Madrid, a vivid, dynamic and diverse museum, which awaits you to discover a unique collection.