DK Travel : Madrid : Places of interest

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Museo de San Isidro

The museum is housed in an attractive 16th-century palace which once belonged to the Counts of Paredes. The original Renaissance courtyard is best viewed from the first floor where archaeological finds from the Madrid region are exhibited, including a beautiful Roman mosaic floor from the 4th century AD. Among the highlights downstairs are wooden models of the city and its royal palaces as they would have appeared in the 17th century, a short film bringing to life Francisco Ricci’s painting of the 1680 auto-de-fé (see Plaza Mayor) and the San Isidro chapel built near the spot where the saint is said to have died.
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 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

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 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.
Museo Thyssen Bornemisza

What began as a private collection is now a superb public museum of some of the best European art from the past 700 years (see Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza).
Navacerrada

At 1,860 m (6,100 ft) Navacerrada is the gateway to the Sierra de Guadarrama. Ski enthusiasts head straight for the Navacerrada Pass (Puerto de Navacerrada), but the town itself should not be overlooked. Apart from the parish church, which has an impressive 15th-century tower, and the 16th-century Church of the Nativity, the craft shops are worth a browse. Cafés abound on Plaza Mayor and there are hiking and cycling trails in the surrounding forests.
Nuevo Baztán

This settlement south of Alcalá de Henares was the brainchild of an 18th-century nobleman from Navarre, Juan de Goyeneche. Goyeneche built the estate so that he could supervise his various industrial enterprises, among the most advanced of the day. The Baroque palace, the domed church of St Francis Xavier and the workers’ houses, designed by José de Churriguera, are the main attractions.