Lázaro Galdiano Foundation Museum

A stately mansion in Barrio de Salamanca is home to the Lázaro Galdiano Museum and its exquisite collection of works of art. You’ll find paintings by Goya, El Greco, Zurbarán and Hieronymus Bosch, bronze figures, ceramics, glassware, textiles, medals and weapons of great value.

The Museum displays a total of four thousand, eight hundred and twenty pieces divided over the four floors of the building, following a simple layout, complemented with texts on the floors and rooms, enabling the quality and variety of the Collection to be discovered and enjoyed.

José Lázaro Galdiano was not only a clever businessman but also a renowned publisher. In the late nineteenth century, he launched a literary magazine titled La España Moderna. The foundation that bears his name takes care of and exhibits his magnificent art collection in Galdiano’s former residence, the mansion of Parque Florido. This home would host literary gatherings attended by Emilia Pardo Bazán, Miguel de Unamuno, Rubén Darío and other pre-eminent writers.

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Some paintings stand out from the rest in the collection: Hieronymus Bosch’s St. John the Baptist in Meditation, Goya’s Witches’ Sabbath, commissioned by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna for their small palace at El Capricho Park, and Salvador Adolescente (Adolescent Saviour), a mysterious image depicting Jesus Christ that was apparently painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci’s pupils.

Hidden gems

Lázaro Galdiano was a prolific art collector as well as a bibliophile. He gathered singular documents like letters written by Lope de Vega and many medieval manuscripts. The library of the Lázaro Galdiano Foundation is open for researchers only, but a selection of its holdings can be seen in temporary exhibitions at the museum.