DK Travel : Madrid

Madrid’s three world-class art museums and two royal palaces alone would set the pulses racing, but there is more to this exciting and diverse capital than its tourist sights. The fashion boutiques of the Salamanca district showcase Europe’s top designers and are just the tip of a shopping iceberg, perfectly complementing the informality of the fascinating El Rastro market, while Madrid’s world-famous tapas bars vie for attention with gourmet restaurants and humble tabernas in a city which never sleeps. To simply watch the world go by, head for the supremely elegant Plaza Mayor.

Museo del Prado

The world-famous gallery is housed in Juan de Villanueva’s Neo-Classical masterpiece – an artistic monument in its own right. The relief over the Velázquez Portal depicts Fernando VII as guardian of the arts and sciences – it was during his reign that the Prado opened as an art gallery. Its strongest collection, unsurprisingly, is its Spanish artworks, particularly those of Francisco de Goya (see Museo del Prado).
Museo del Prado

One of the world’s finest art galleries, the Prado includes a spectacular section of Spanish paintings within its vast collection (see Museo del Prado).
Museo del Prado

This world-famous art gallery is Madrid’s obvious must-see. The outstanding collections of Spanish and European painting reflect the taste of royal connoisseurs (see Museo del Prado).
Museo Lázaro Galdiano

José Lázaro Galdiano (1862–1947) was a distinguished patron of the arts and collector whose Italian-style palazzo is now a museum showcasing his fabulous possessions. There are Spanish works by El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo, Velázquez and Goya and European paintings by Reynolds, Constable and Gainsborough. There are also spectacular objets d’art (see Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas).
Museo Municipal

This former poorhouse is now a museum tracing the history of the capital from the earliest times to the present day. Prize exhibits include mosaic fragments from a local Roman villa, pottery from the time of the Muslim occupation, a bust of Felipe II, and Goya’s Allegory of the City of Madrid (Dos de Mayo) . The star attraction is a wooden model of the city, made in 1830 by León Gil de Palacio. As you leave, take a look at the elaborately sculpted Baroque portal, dating from the 1720s.
Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

One of the many pluses of the Decorative Arts Museum is that it sets Spanish crafts in a European context. Highlights include the Gothic bedroom, Flemish tapestries and a collection of 19th-century fans (see Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas).
Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

Housed in a 19th-century mansion overlooking the Retiro is this compelling collection of furniture, silverware, ceramics and glassware from the royal factory of La Granja, as well as jewellery, tapestries, clocks, toys and musical instruments. But the museum is more than a showcase of handicrafts. Arranged chronologically over four floors are reconstructed rooms illustrating Spanish domestic life from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Unmissable on the fourth floor is the recreated Valencian kitchen, decorated with more than 1,600 hand-painted azulejo tiles. The below-stairs life of an 18th-century palace is vividly brought to life as servants struggle with trays of pies and sweetmeats while the domestic cats filch fish and eels.
Museo Naval

Among the highlights in the naval museum is a 16th-century Flemish galleon and the first map ever to show the New World.
Museo Romántico

This unusual but evocative museum, as its name suggests, recreates the Madrid of the Romantic era (c.1820–60), with rooms furnished and decorated in the style of the period. The real attraction, however, lies in the ephemera: fans, figurines, dolls, old photograph albums, cigar cases, visiting cards and the like, which all help to summarize the era. Among the paintings is a magnificent Goya in the chapel and a portrait of the Marqués de Vega-Inclán, whose personal possessions form the basis of the collection. By common consent, the archetypal Spanish Romantic was Mariano José de Larra, a journalist with a caustic pen, who shot himself in 1837 after his lover ran off with another man. The offending pistol is one of the museum’s prized exhibits.
Museo Sorolla

This museum is devoted to the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923) who spent the last 13 years of his life here. Some rooms have been left as they were in his lifetime, while others are used to hang his work. Dubbed “the Spanish Impressionist”, his subject matter ranges from Spanish folk types to landscapes, but Sorolla is at his most appealing when evoking the sea. Don’t leave without seeing the Andalusian-style garden.