Royal Collections Gallery

The origin of the museum dates back to the 1930s, when a first project began in 1935{{cite news |last1=Nogueira |first1=Charo |title=Una fachada más en La Cornisa |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2010/12/12/madrid/1292156655_850215.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=El País |date=12 December 2010}} and the Foundation Decree of the Museum of Arms and Carriages was issued in 1936 by the government of the Second Republic, when the president was Manuel Azaña.{{cite news |last1=Serrano |first1=María Isabel |title=El guardián de las joyas de la Corona |url=https://www.abc.es/20120729/local-madrid/abci-museo-colecciones-reales-201207282020.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=ABC |date=29 July 2012}} The start of the Spanish Civil War paralyzed the project, which was resumed in 1950 and again in 1980, but it did not come to fruition at either of those times.

Patrimonio Nacional again raised the idea of building the museum in 1998, reviving the idea of creating a new carriage museum but also exhibiting the works of art, jewelry and tapestries of the dynasties that reigned in Spain in recent centuries, the Habsburgs and the Bourbons.

In 2002, the project presented by the architects Emilio Tuñón and Luis Moreno Mansilla (Mansilla + Tuñón) won the ideas contest for the building, and finally construction started in 2006.{{cite news |last1=Gutiérrez |first1=Vera |title=Ruiz-Gallardón da luz verde al futuro Museo de Colecciones Reales |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2006/01/13/madrid/1137155071_850215.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=El País |date=13 January 2006 |language=Spanish}} The works suffered delays due to the discovery of archaeological remains of the 9th-century Muslim settlement in its location.{{cite news |last1=Nogueira |first1=Charo |date=29 December 2010 |title=Mil años de historia de la ciudad bajo el Museo de Colecciones Reales |language=Spanish |publisher=El País |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2010/12/29/madrid/1293625455_850215.html |accessdate=5 October 2018}} In addition, the central government had to increase the project's original budget considerably.{{cite news |last1=Nogueira |first1=Charo |title=The Museum of Royal Collections almost triples its initial budget |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2010/12/17/madrid/1292588655_850215.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=El País |date=17 December 2010 |language=Spanish}}

The main façade is finished in granite of the {{lang|es|Gris Quintana}} type. This uses stones of great dimensions that had to be emptied on the interior sides to cover the structure of reinforced concrete. The placement of these large pieces was a very complex task, for which a custom-made tool had to be created, which translated into a laying of the first stone as a decisive act. Solid steps, rain gutters, large caps and bespoke tops were made from the same granite.

The construction of the building was completed in 2016, but because of the caretaker status of the government after the 2016 general election, it could not sign the contract of an extra 25 million to finish the interior of the building, and the opening was announced for 2020.{{cite news |last1=Villalba |first1=Enrique |title=El Museo de Colecciones Reales se retrasa a 2020 |url=https://www.madridiario.es/438001/museo-colecciones-reales-retraso-2020 |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=Madriddiario |date=17 October 2016 |language=Spanish}}

In October 2018, after a year of delays, a temporal cooperation of Empty, specialized in museography, and telecommunications company Telefónica won the public contest for the interior design and presentation of the museum and its collections.{{cite news |last1=H. Riaño |first1=Peio |title=Patrimonio Nacional desbloquea el Museo de las Colecciones Reales |url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2018/10/04/actualidad/1538683571_812141.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=El País |date=4 October 2018 |language=Spanish}}

In June 2022, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the chairwoman of Patrimonio Nacional, Ana de la Cueva, announced that the museum would open in summer 2023 and be renamed the Royal Collections Gallery. It opened on 28 June 2023.[https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-art/royal-collections-gallery-review-palace-of-the-spanish-past-madrid-25cb7ebb?mod=fine-art_news_article_pos1 Green, Dominic, "Royal Collections Gallery Review: Palace of the Spanish Past", The Wall Street Journal, August 26,2023]

Juan de Flandes - Isabel la Católica (Palacio Real, Madrid, 1500-04. Óleo sobre tabla, 63 x 55 cm).jpg|Portrait of Isabella I of Castile, c. 1500–1504, Juan de Flandes

File:Alberto Durero ?, c. 1503 (53206331280).jpg|Iris, c. 1503, Albrecht Dürer

File:El hombre de la perla (Palacio Real de Madrid).jpg|Portrait of a Man with a Pearl, c. 1515–1517, Michel Sittow

File:Tapiz de Hércules (53201667650).jpg|Hercules (tapestry), c. 1530, Bernard van Orley

File:Colecciones Reales - Eagle Fountain.jpg|Eagle Fountain c. 1539, Giovanni Montorsoli

File:-El Bosco- Tapiz, c. 1555 (53206270949).jpg|The Haywain (tapestry), 1555, Hieronymus Bosch

File:CaravaggioSalomeMadrid.jpg|Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, 1609, Caravaggio

File:White Horse - Caballo blanco - Velazquez.jpg|White Horse, c. 1634–1638, Diego Velázquez

File:Gianlorenzo bernini, cristo crocifisso, 1654-57, bronzo dorato (madrid, coll. reali) 01.jpg|Crucified Christ, 1655, Gian Lorenzo Bernini

File:Colecciones Reales - Black Carriage.jpg|Black Carriage, c. 1670–1680

File:Colecciones Reales - Arcángel.jpg|Saint Michael Defeating the Devil, 1692, Luisa Roldán

File:Louis-Michel Van Loo, 1737 (53208169969).jpg|Portrait of Philip V of Spain, 1737, Louis-Michel Van Loo

File:La Mielera - The Honey Seller - Lorenzo Tiepolo.jpg|The Honey Seller, 1775, Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo

Colecciones Reales - Dosel y sillón de besamanos.jpg|Chair and canopy from Maria Luisa of Parma's audience chamber, c.1793

Francisco de Goya, 1799 (53224629475).jpg|Portrait of Maria Luisa of Parma, 1799, Goya

File:Colecciones Reales - Dessert.jpg|Surtout de table of the Glories of Spain, c. 1802–1805, Isidoro G. Velázquez

File:Coche de la Corona Real (Galería de las Colecciones Reales).jpg|The Royal Crown Coach, c. 1829–1833

File:Coronas.jpg|Crowns for the Virgin of Atocha and Child, c. 1852, Narciso Práxenes

The museum building received two main awards:

• The Spanish Architecture Award (2017).{{cite web |title=2017 Spanish Architecture Prize, ex-aequo, for, The Museum of Royal Collections and the Palace of Congresses and Hotel in Palma |url=https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/2017-spanish-architecture-prize-ex-aequo-museum-royal-collections-and-palace-congresses-and-hotel-palma |website=metalocus.es |accessdate=5 October 2018}}
• The FAD Awards for Architecture and Interior Design (2017).{{cite news |title=El Museo de las Colecciones Reales de Madrid gana el FAD de arquitectura |url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2017/06/30/actualidad/1498820862_725476.html |accessdate=5 October 2018 |publisher=El País |date=30 June 2017 |language=Spanish}}

• Museo del Prado
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
• Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.galeriadelascoleccionesreales.es/multimedia Multimedia presentation of the collection]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Art museums and galleries in Madrid

Category:Cultural tourism in Spain

Category:Spanish royal collection