Madrid in the Golden Age. Melting Pot of Destinies and Landing of Geniuses

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando invites visitors to take a journey through 16th and 17th century Madrid via an exhibition featuring diverse works of art and other objects that highlight the splendour and dynamism of the Spanish Court, which turned the city into a key feature of the Golden Age. This exhibition can be visited from 29 September to 2 December.

During this period, Madrid was the place where monarchs, queens, government officials and influential women lived alongside entrepreneurs, tricksters, scientists, technicians, artists and writers.

When King Philip II moved the court to Madrid in 1561, the city underwent an unprecedented transformation and became the heart of a global empire spanning territories across Europe, America and Asia. The Indies and the Manila Galleon routes enabled goods, money, people and ideas to be exchanged worldwide.

Madrid in the Golden Age became a magnet for writers, bankers, artists and scientists, among whom engineers such as Juanelo Turriano or Cosme Lotti, renowned doctors, such as Andrea Vesalio, painters such as Velázquez, poets and writers ranging from Lope de Vega and Calderón to Quevedo or Miguel de Cervantes stood out. Many of them were looking for success on the stages of the open-air theatres and theatres, such as La Pacheca, El Príncipe or Alcalá de Henares.

Since then, the mark of the Golden Age has impregnated Madrid’s tangible and intangible material, transcending time.