Museo Arqueológico Nacional | |
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| Established | 20 March 1867 (1867-03-20) |
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| Location | Calle de Serrano, 13,Madrid, Spain |
| Coordinates | 40°25′25″N3°41′22″W / 40.423645°N 3.689422°W /40.423645; -3.689422 |
| Type | Archaeology museum |
| Visitors | 499,300 (2019)[1] |
| Director | Andrés Carretero Pérez |
| Public transit access | |
| Website | www |
| Official name | Museo Arqueológico Nacional |
| Type | Non-movable |
| Criteria | Monument |
| Designated | 1962 |
| Reference no. | RI-51-0001373 |
TheNational Archaeological Museum (Spanish:Museo Arqueológico Nacional;MAN) is aarchaeology museum inMadrid, Spain. It is located onCalle de Serrano beside thePlaza de Colón, sharing its building with theNational Library of Spain. It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached to theMinistry of Culture.
The museum was founded in 1867 by a Royal Decree ofIsabella II as a depository for numismatic, archaeological, ethnographical and decorative art collections of the Spanish monarchs. The establishment of the museum was predated by a previous unmaterialised proposal by theRoyal Academy of History in 1830 to create a museum of antiquities.[2]
The museum was originally located in theEmbajadores district of Madrid. In 1895, it moved to a building designed specifically to house it, aneoclassical design by architectFrancisco Jareño, built from 1866 to 1892. In 1968, renovation and extension works considerably increased its area. The museum closed for renovation in 2008 and reopened in April 2014.[3]
Following a restructuring of the collection in the 1940s, its former pieces relative to the section of American Ethnography were transferred to theMuseum of the Americas, while other pieces from abroad were destined to theNational Museum of Ethnography and to theNational Museum of Decorative Arts.[4]
Its current collection is based on pieces from theIberian Peninsula, fromPrehistory toEarly-Modern Age. However, it also has different collections coming from outside of Spain, especially fromAncient Greece, both from the metropolitan and, above all, fromMagna Graecia, and, to a lesser extent, fromAncient Egypt, in addition to "a small number of pieces" fromNear East.[5]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(November 2020) |
In the forecourt is a replica of theCave of Altamira from the 1960s.Photogrammetry was used to reproduce the famous paintings on a mould of the original cave. The replica cave is related to an exhibit at theDeutsches Museum in Munich.[6]
Visitors enter the building at basement level, and pass to the prehistory section.
The halls devoted to the Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula (1st floor) exhibit pieces froma number of Pre-Roman peoples existing roughly along the 1st millennia BC, as well as from the Punic-Phoenician colonisation. The former includes items from theTalaiotic culture,Iberian, Celtic, and Tartessian artifacts. The collection ofIberian sculpture from southern and southeastern Iberia is particularly notable, including stone sculptures such as the iconicLady of Elche, theLady of Baza, theLady of Galera, theDama del Cerro de los Santos, theBicha of Balazote, theBull of Osuna, theSphinx of Agost, one of the twosphinxes of El Salobral [es] or theMausoleum of Pozo Moro.[7][8][9][10]
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![Lioness of Baena [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLeona_de_Baena_(40730657161).jpg)
Aside from the set of Iberian sculpture, the area also hosts other items from different cultures, such as the Talaiotic bulls of Costitx, the torque of Ribadeo from theCastro culture in northwestern Iberia, or theLady of Ibiza, associated to thePunic civilization.[7]
The collection of Hispano-Roman artifacts—located in the 1st floor—comes both from diggings at specific archaeological sites as well as from punctual purchases.[11] The collection of Roman artifacts is completed by items from the personal collection of theMarquis of Salamanca (purchased in 1874 and comprising artifacts from thePaestum andCales sites in the Italian Peninsula).[11][10] The main room of the area is a courtyard, where the artifacts are placed creating a sort offorum-like arrangement.[12] Meanwhile, the room #27 exhibits a number of mosaics both on its floor and walls.[13] The collection of Hispano-Roman legal bronzes includes theLex Ursonensis, comprising five pieces found in the 1870s inOsuna.[14]
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![Sundial from Baelo Claudia [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMuseo_Arqueol%25C3%25B3gico_Nacional_-_33185_-_Reloj_solar_de_Baelo_Claudia.jpg)
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![Puteal from La Moncloa [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMuseo_Arqueol%25C3%25B3gico_Nacional_-_2691_-_Puteal_de_la_Moncloa_03.jpg)
The halls corresponding to theLate Antiquity (1st floor) host pieces related to the period of time corresponding to the Lower Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula—theDiocesis Hispaniarum (3rd–5th centuries AD)—, theVisigothic Kingdom of Toledo (6th-8th centuries AD), theByzantine Empire (5th to 12th centuries AD),[15] as well as some artifacts of other peoples from theMigration Period.[16]
Standout artifacts from this area include theSarcophagus from Astorga [es], the Visigothichoard of Guarrazar, including thevotive crown ofRecceswinth,[16] or thefibulae from Alovera [es].[15]
![Paleochristian sarcophagus from Astorga [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMuseo_Arqueol%25C3%25B3gico_Nacional_-_50310_-_Sarc%25C3%25B3fago_de_Astorga.jpg)
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![Eagle-like fibulae from Alovera [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAlovera_M.A.N..JPG)
The area dedicated toal-Andalus is located in the 1st floor. Iconic pieces from al-Andalus include thepyxis of Zamora (actually made inMedina Azahara), thedeer-like fountain source of Medina Azahara [es] or the marble font for ablutions ofAlmanzor.[17] A Jewish bilingual chapitel from Toledo is also exhibited.[18] Two items of the so-calledAlhambra vases [es] stand out within the collection ofNasrid pottery [es].[19]
![The deer of Medina Azahara [es], a bronze fountain](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCierva_(40707126722).jpg)
![Astrolabe of ibn Said [es], made in 1067 in Toledo by Ibrahim ibn Said al-Sahli[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAstrolabio_(16787706916).jpg)
The area dedicated to the medieval Christian Kingdoms (roughly ranging from the 8th to the 15th century) is located in the 2nd floor. Iconic pieces of Romanesqueivory craftsmanship include theArca de las Bienaventuranzas [es] and theCrucifix of Ferdinand and Sancha.[21] The medieval collection features thepraying statue of Peter I of Castile [es], made inalabaster and moved from the formerconvent of Santo Domingo el Real in Madrid [es] to the National Archaeological Museum in 1868.[22][21] It also displays a number of items ofLevantine pottery.[21]
![Arca de las Bienaventuranzas [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aArquetaDeLasBienaventuranzas.jpg)
![praying statue of Peter I of Castile [es]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aM.A.N._-_Estatua_orante_de_Pedro_I.jpg)
The topic area devoted to theAncient Near East (conventionally excluding Ancient Egypt) is located at the 2nd floor. One of the most important sets of the MAN's Near East collection is that of pottery from Iran.[23] The museum displays adiorite head from Mesopotamia donated to thePrado Museum in the 1940s by the Mexican collectorMarius de Zayas (later deposited in the MAN).[24] 21st century purchases include that of thePraying Sumerian figure [es] bought atChristie's in 2001.[25]
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The collections ofEgypt andNubia are made up mainly of funerary funds (amulets,mummies,steles, sculpture of divinities,ushabti...) ranging from prehistory to Roman and medieval times.[26] Many of the pieces come from purchases such as the one made from the collection of the Spanish EgyptologistEduardo Toda y Güell[27] and also from various excavations such as the ones carried in Egypt and Sudan as a result of the agreements with the Egyptian government for the construction of the Aswan Dam[28] or the systematic excavations inHeracleopolis Magna.
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The Greek collection is made up of works from continental Greece, Ionia, Magna Graecia and Sicily, where the collection of bronzes, terracottas, goldsmiths, sculptures and to a greater extentpottery come from; pieces that ranging from theMycenaean to theHellenistic period.[29] In its beginnings, the collection had funds from the Royal Cabinet of Natural History and theNational Library, the collection was later enriched with works brought from the expeditions of the frigate Arapiles to the East[28] in addition to the purchase of private funds such as those of theMarquis of Salamanca[30] or those of Tomás Asensi.
Media related toMuseo Arqueológico Nacional de España at Wikimedia Commons
