National Archaeological Museum, Madrid

The National Archaeological Museum (Spanish: Museo Arqueológico Nacional) is a museum in Madrid, Spain. It is located on Serrano Street beside the Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square), sharing its building with the National Library.

National Archaeological Museum
Museo Arqueológico Nacional
Museum's main facade
Established1867
LocationMadrid, Spain
TypeArchaeology museum
DirectorAndrés Carretero Pérez
Websiteman.mcu.es
Official name: Museo Arqueológico Nacional
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaMonument
Designated1962
Reference no.RI-51-0001373

The museum was founded in 1867 by a Royal Decree of Isabella II as a depository for numismatic, archaeological, ethnographical and decorative art collections of the Spanish monarchs.

The museum was originally located in the Embajadores district of Madrid. In 1895, it moved to a building designed specifically to house it, a neoclassical design by architect Francisco Jareño, built from 1866 to 1892. In 1968, renovation and extension works considerably increased its area. The museum closed for renovation in 2008 and reopened in April 2014.[1] The remodelled museum concentrates on its core archaeological role, rather than decorative arts.

Its collection is based on pieces from the Iberian Peninsula, from Prehistory to Early-Modern Age. However, it also has different collections coming from outside of Spain, especially from Ancient Greece, both from the metropolitan and, above all, from Magna Graecia, and, to a lesser extent, from Ancient Egypt, in addition to "a small number of pieces" from Near East.[2]

Artefacts

In the forecourt is a replica of the Cave of Altamira. It was made in the 1960s using photogrammetry and is related to an exhibit at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.[3]

Visitors enter the building at basement level, and pass to the prehistory section.

Prehistoric and Iberian
Roman and Visigothic
Medieval
Al-Andalus

See also

References
  1. Official website (in Spanish), plus information from Madrid Tourist Office etc, as at November 24, 2013.
  2. "Egipto y Oriente Próximo", Museo Arqueológico Nacional (in Spanish)
  3. "The Deutsches Museum Replica". Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  4. The first R is held at the Musée de Cluny, Paris.

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