The first floor of the building truly represents the palace, as you can see from the inlaid wood floors and the beautifully painted ceiling. The museum's arrangement has remained faithful to the building's original distribution and decoration, with a large quantity of marble, wood paneling, and stuccoes. The nine rooms are devoted to Spanish art and are in chronological order ranging from the 1400s to the 1800s, with paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts, and emanate a lavish sense. You absolutely can't miss the St. Francis in Ecstasy by El Greco in the tenth room, and in the thirteenth you can get your fill of masterpieces by Goya and his contemporaries. In the latter room, which is the highlight of the museum, you'll find some of the Spanish painter's true gems, including darting scenes of witchcraft and exorcism.
Now pause the audio and go to the second floor.
You are now in what was once the building's private area, which is now dedicated to European art, especially Flemish and Dutch painting. You'll find an absolute masterpiece in the seventeenth room: it's the Meditation of San Giovanni Battista by Hieronymus Bosch, an enormous painting of a very small size. The saint sadly indicates the lamb, which is the prophecy of his future martyrdom: he's wearing a red cloak that beautifully contrasts the vast green landscape. You'll also see a lot of Italian and German paintings, and even some English ones, which is rare in a Spanish museum. And all of this is constantly surrounded by fine Italian ceramic and bronze objects, pieces of German silver, and watches from different areas and times.
Now pause the audio and go to the third floor.
On the third floor you'll find the Gabinete del Coleccionista/"Office of the Collector", where you can see a variety of ceramics, glass, silver, enamel, and bronze. You can do something pretty unusual for a museum in this room: you can open the cabinets and drawers as you wish, as if you were at home, and discover all sorts of collector's items like keys, textiles, weapons, medals, and coins.
FUN FACT: to go up or down between the floors of the museum, instead of stairs you can use the vintage elevator covered in mahogany, complete with a red velvet seat!
Language: English