The National Archaeological Museum was founded by a Royal Decree of Isabel II on March 20, 1867. The purpose of the museum was established in the Decree: it was to be a depository for numismatic, archaeological, ethnographical and decorative art collections compiled by the Spanish monarchs of the houses of Austria and Bourbon and housed in the Royal Library and the Natural History collection, together with archaeological objects conserved in the Higher School of Diplomacy.
The National Archaeological Museum has been renovated several times during its history. The most recent was started in 1968 and considerably increased its area, allowing objects to be exhibited according to modern museological criteria. Currently, the second floor is devoted to pre-history, Egyptian and middle-Eastern antiquities, Greek vases, Etruscan objects, others from the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and the Sahara and from the Iron Age. The third floor contains items from the Phoenician colonization and the Punic world, and Iberian, Roman, and Visigothic antiquities, followed by Medieval objects, both Muslim and Christian. The fourth floor houses the Modern Age rooms, the Salas Nobles, the temporary exhibitions room, the coin collection and the library.
Information about the museum was provided by one of their own flyers distributed upon entrance.
This page is authored and maintained by Louise Morales.
Last edited 08/2001