The artistic legacy of the Crown, collected and exhibited in the Royal Collections

The King and Queen opened this Tuesday in Madrid the Gallery of the Royal Collections, located next to the Royal Palace, which it contains works signed by artists such as Goya, Velázquez or Caravaggio. During the opening, Felipe VI appreciated this new artistic enclave, which he assured would become “the main instrument for the preservation, management and dissemination of the historical and artistic legacy” of the Crown, “stored in royal places, which are well represented”.

The king pointed out that the new gallery “represents a journey through the history of Spain the continuity of the monarchy symbolized in the royal collections» and emphasized the «stable exhibition discourse» of the «flexible, modern and innovative» collection, which «shows patronage and collecting work by exhibiting and making available to citizens the artistic gems of the collections». He emphasized that these are “exceptional material testimonies of our shared history and culture.

Felipe VI emphasized that it is not only an “extraordinary selection of first-class works of art from the national heritage collections”, but that, “beyond the aesthetic and immense cultural value of the work», they get their meaning «in the context in which they were produced in the places where they were: the actual places where they lived and in the time period defined mainly between the Catholic monarchs and Alfonso XIII».

“The result is a unique gallery, which, despite its monumental proportions, welcomes and does not overwhelm, which looks towards nature and the environment that surrounds it through architecture that reveals and makes even the remains of the Arab Wall of Madrid its own,” he defended himself.

In this context, the head of state addressed his words to the National Heritage, an institution which, as he stated, “adapts and manages immense cultural and natural heritage received through successive reigns and dynasties and today it is shared by all Spaniards».

“On the occasion of the opening of the Gallery of Royal Collections, the national heritage institution as a whole has been enriched and strengthened in its educational and cultural function, an important complement to the primary function of serving the crown,” the king pointed out.

Schedules and prices

The grand opening of the space was scheduled for June 28 — coinciding with the start of Spain’s presidency of the European Union — but was postponed due to the general election on Sunday, July 23. In any case, it was possible to visit the Gallery from June 28 and it had four days of open doors almost 10,000 free tickets sold out which was enabled.

The gallery is open every day of the week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (until 7 p.m. on Sundays and holidays). The price of the ticket, which can be purchased on the web for greater convenience, is 14 euros (7 euros for a discounted ticket). Free schedule is from Monday to Thursday from 18:00. Of the gallery’s 40,000 square meters, 6,000 are allocated for exhibition spaces (and 2,000 square meters for three rooms: Austrian, Bourbon and temporary rooms). In addition, the building has a warehouse to store a large part of the 170,000 pieces in the collection, and a third of the works on display — more than 650 works in total — will be rotated to royal sites and monasteries.

In the space, however, there will be no pictorial portraits of the current royal family, despite the fact that one of the works originally intended for this museum was a picture of the family painted by Antonio López. “When you pass the assembly, you will see that it does not make much sense,” explained the director of Royal Collections Leticia Ruiz, who reminded that museography ended with Isabella II. and the nationalization of royal collections.