Galería de las Colecciones Reales

Opened in 2023 after twenty-five years of building, the Royal Collections Gallery is a vast concrete blade set into the cliff below the Palacio Real, and it shows what the Spanish crown kept in storage for five centuries: Caravaggio and Velázquez, armour made for emperors, the tapestries that travelled with the court, and a floor of carriages.

It is the newest of Madrid’s major museums and still the least crowded per square metre. The evening free window (Mon–Thu) is the best-kept free slot in the city, and the terrace view over the Campo del Moro is worth the walk alone.

The minimum you must see

Tips

Combine with the Palace itself only if you have a full morning; the Gallery alone is two hours.

Enter from the Almudena cathedral side; the views open as you descend the building.

Questions, answered