Museo Cerralbo

Collections of Old Master paintings, fine furniture & antiques in an 1800s mansion.

Museo Cerralbo

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Templo de Debod

Ancient Egyptian temple & museum moved from Aswan & rebuilt in lush parkland, with sunset views.

Mirador de la Montaña de Príncipe Pío

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Paseo de Prado

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Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

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Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Attic red-figure cup
Clay
Iberian culture
4th century BC
Necropolis of Mengíbar (Jaén)
Provenance: Greece
The central medallion depicts an owl between two olive branches, symbols of the commercial power of Attica, which exported products throughout the Mediterranean.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Patera for libations
Gilded silver
Second half of the 3rd-early 1st century BC
Perotito Hoard

Made out of sheet silver with repoussé decoration, the patera features a traditional Iberian scene of a wolf's head devouring a human head encircled by serpents. However, both the reliefs of centaurs and centaurides holding musical instruments at a nocturnal banquet and the erotes with trophies are inspired by the Late Hellenistic world. It is thought to be the work of a local craftsman.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

The Lady Of Elche, Symbol Of Iberian Culture
Limestone
Iberian culture
Late 5th-early 4th century BC
La Alcudia (Elche, Alicante)

Carved in the round, the sculpture represents a high-born woman with an idealised face, richly garbed and bejewelled. It was originally polychromed and the eyes were filled with vitreous paste. There is an aperture at the back.
There are numerous theories regarding its authorship, but today most believe that an Iberian commissioned it from a sculptor who was Greek or trained in Greek workshops.
It was discovered by chance at the archaeological site of La Alcudia, near the town of Elche, and soon after was sold to the Musée du Louvre. It was displayed there until 1941, when the French and Spanish governments negotiated its return to Spain. It went to the Museo del Prado and was transferred to the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in 1971.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Female offerants
Limestone
Iberian culture
3rd-2nd century BC
Shrine of Cerro de los Santos
(Montealegre del Castillo, Albacete)

Offering bearers are the most common type of representation at this shrine and they are usually women, although there is the odd male figure.
They are always richly garbed and hold an offering vessel in both hands.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

The Miranda Hill Hoard (Palencia II Hoard)
Silver
Vaccaei culture
2nd-early 1st century BC (hidden circa 82-72 BC)
La Miranda Hill (Fuentes de Valdepero, Palencia)

The city of Palencia and its environs have yielded several hoards that may have been hidden by individuals or public institutions during the Sertorian War (82-72 BC).
This one contains different types of tors, bracelets and denarii from Arsaos (unidentified site in Navarre), Sekobirikez (Pinilla Trasmonte, Burgos) and Turiazu (Tarazona, Zaragoza). Some of the jewellery items have weight or control marks.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Lead ingot
1st century
Bou Ferrer shipwreck, Villajoyosa (Alicante)

The shipwreck so-called Bou Ferrer was carrying a cargo of roughly 3,000 amphorae produced in the Cádiz area, filled with fish sauces, and lead ingots from the mines of Linares-La Carolina in the Sierra Morena mountains.
The countermarks IMP.GER and AVG tell us that they belonged to an emperor who won victories in Germania, possibly Claudius or Nero. The countermark CCIIX indicates its weight, 208 pounds (68 kg), double the norm for this type of ingot.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Hospitium agreement
Bronze
40 AD
Clunia (Peñalba de Castro, Burgos)

Hospitium agreement between the city of Clunia and the prefect Gaius Terentius Baso and his descendents.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Hadrian
Marble
130 AD

Trajan's adopted son and successor came from a senatorial family in Italica, Seville, where he was born. This member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty ruled from 117 to 138. A great admirer of Greek culture, he preserved the Hellenic tradition in the design of massive architectural works.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Nero
Marble
50-54 AD

Son of Agrippina Minor, of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero became emperor after his uncle Claudius' death and reigned from 54 to 68. The Cordovan philosopher Seneca was his preceptor. Nobles of Hispania, including the future emperor Trajan, were summoned to his court.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Septimius Severus
Marble
200-206 AD

Born in Leptis Magna (Libya), he founded the Severan dynasty and ruled as emperor from 193 to 211. He married a Syrian princess, Julia Domna. A warrior at heart, he led numerous military campaigns.
Roman historians describe him as highly charismatic, implacable with his foes and even excessively cruel, yet they also note that he rendered a great service to the state.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Livia & Tiberius
Marble
14-19 AD
Paestum (Italy)

Livia Drusilla, the great matriarch of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, was the wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius. She wielded enormous influence in matters of state. Depicted with a veil, like a priestess of the imperial cult to Augustus the Divine, she became known as Julia Augusta, presaging her deification in the year 41. The sculpture was discovered beside that of Tiberius.
Tiberius, son of Livia and adopted by Augustus, this member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty ruled from 14 to 37. He fought numerous battles against the Cantabri, Gauls and Germanic tribes/. As emperor he reinforced and defended the empire’s territories.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Gladiator fight
Mosaic
Limestone and vitreous paste
3rd century
Rome

Below, in the arena, the murmillones Symmachus and Maternus are fighting, cheered on by the lanistae. Above, Maternus, with a crossed-out O beside his name symbolising death, lies defeated by Symmachus, whom the inscription calls a fortunate man.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Quadriga of the factio russata
Mosaic
Limestone
3rd century
Rome

The red team's driver, winner of the race, has taken the palm frond of victory. He will also take home a large sum of money and numerous gifts from his admirers. And everyone who bet on him will have won thousands of sestertit.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Quadriga of the factio veneta
Mosaic
Limestone
3rd century
Rome

The blue team has won the race.
Their driver completes a celebratory lap holding the palm frond of victory in his hand. The iubilator hails the victor and the sparsor prepares to water the horses.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Mosaic with the Labours of Hercules
Limestone
3th century
Liria (Valencia)

Hercules was the model of strength, the quest for excellence and triumph over death. He exemplified the virtues of the Roman patrician. Knowledge of his achievements, passed down in images and literature, indicates the scholarly tastes of the dominus who chose these motifs to adorn his house.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Mosaic of Medusa and the Seasons
Limestone
4th century
Palencia

The Medusa mask and the images of the four seasons surrounded by birds, sea lions and sea horses symbolise fertility and the harmonious evolution of the year. They protect and bless the owner and his domains with abundance.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Mosaic with Genius of the Year
Limestone and marble
Late 2nd century
Aranjuez (Madrid)

The Genius of the Year favoured the passing seasons and harvests. It was a divine force that engendered, produced and preserved everything that lived and evolved. As a tutelary deity, it protected the house and its inhabitants. The cornucopia, the symbol of bounty, was its attribute.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Minotaur
Cup
Painter of London E4
Attica
515 BC

Part-bull, part-man, this cruel hybrid creature was the lord of the labyrinthine kingdom from which there was no escape. He personified death and lay in wait for everyone at the end of the dark maze. Only Theseus managed to defeat him and escape from the place of no return, thus offering hope to all mortals.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

The Waters of Hades
Plates
Campania y Paestum
360-300 BC

These plates depicting fish, creatures of the deep and of myth, are burial offerings, everlasting symbols of the transitional space represented by the sea, death's antechamber, and of the fecundity lurking in its depths. Hades and the paradises were imagined to exist at the ends of the earth, beyond the ocean currents.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

The Birth of Athena
Well head
Rome
Marble
1st century

This well head, puteus in Latin, illustrates the extraordinary birth of Athena. The goddess springs fully-grown and armed from the head of Zeus. Nike, winged victory, flies to crown her. In the background, Hephaistos, the impromptu "midwife" whose axe has split the head of the king of the gods, flees in amazement. Meanwhile, the three Moire, goddesses of the fate of newborns, spin the subtle thread of life.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Hades, god of the Underworld, abducts Persephone
Loutrophoros
Baltimore Painter
Apulia
340-320 BC

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Eros
Hydria
Dwarf Painter
Attica
430-420 BC

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

The Exploits of Theseus
Cup
Aison
Attica
420 BC

This cup is a masterpiece. It depicts Theseus on his journey of initiation and his heroic battles with the giant Sciron, Procrustes, torturer of travellers, Cercyon, the Crommyonian sow, the bandit Sinis, and the Marathonian Bull that laid waste to cities. Theseus acquires all his wisdom in the palaestra. Armed with intelligence and skill, the hero of Athens manages to defeat the Minotaur, lord of the deadly labyrinth, in the central tondo. Finally, Athena chooses him to occupy a place of honour among the heroes.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN)

Rhyton
Apulia
350-330 BC