Museum of the National Library

museum

The grand building you are approaching on the Paseo de Recoletos stands as the Palace of the Library and National Museums. It was inaugurated in eighteen ninety-two to serve as a unified home for Spain's most vital cultural archives. While it is now synonymous with the National Library of Spain, the structure was originally designed to share its massive footprint with the National Archaeological Museum. The two institutions remain neighbors today, though they occupy distinct sections of the sprawling neoclassical complex. King Philip the Fifth founded this institution in seventeen eleven, and he personally issued a royal decree that changed the course of Spanish publishing. He mandated that every printer in the country submit a copy of every book they produced to his new Royal Library. This early form of legal deposit transformed the library into the ultimate vessel for the nation's collective memory. By the time the current building opened nearly two centuries later, that initial royal collection had evolved into a repository for tens of millions of documents, ranging from ancient medieval manuscripts to the immense flood of print that defined the modern era.

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Nearby

National Museum of Archaeology

museum

Neoclassical building housing ancient & more modern artifacts including cave art & Islamic pottery.

Café Gijón

landmark

Café Gijón (Also known as Gran Café de Gijón) is a culturally significant coffeehouse situated at No. 21, in the boulevard of central Madrid, Spain, which is known as Paseo de Recoletos. The café is opposite both a railway station of the same name and the National Library of Spain (BNE).

Convento de los Agustinos Recoletos (Madrid)

religious

The Convento de los Agustinos Recoletos or Convento de Copacabana, in the city of Madrid, was a convent located in the land now occupied by the National Library, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, and several city blocks. This convent named the known Paseo de Recoletos of Madrid, name that refers to the Augustinian Recollects (Agustinos Recoletos), former owners of the convent and of the adjacent properties. In this convent the painter Francisco de Zurbarán was buried.

Biblioteca Nacional de España

educational

18th-century public library with an extensive collection of manuscripts, books & photographs.

Monument to Christopher Columbus

landmark

Plaza de Colón

landmark

Plaza de Colón (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈplaθa ðe koˈlon]; lit. 'Columbus Square') is located in the encounter of Chamberí, Centro and Salamanca districts of Madrid, Spain. This plaza and its fountain commemorate the explorer Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish was Cristóbal Colón, whose voyages to the Americas would lead to the creation of the Spanish Empire.

Monumento a Blas de Lezo

monument

Historical American Exposition

event

The 1892 Historical American Exposition held in Madrid was intended to mark the four hundredth year of the discovery of America.

Monumento a Jorge Juan y Santacilia

historic

Torres de Colón

landmark

Completed in 1976, this architecturally notable office building features twin towers with 23 floors.

Teatro Fernán Gómez

cultural

The Teatro Fernán Gómez (previously Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid) is a theatre and cultural centre in Madrid, Spain.

Statue of Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo

monument

The statue of Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo is a monument in Madrid, Spain. A work by Lorenzo Coullaut Valera, it consists of a limestone statue of the aforementioned philologist and it is installed in the lobby of the National Library of Spain.

Paseo de Recoletos

other

Paseo de Recoletos is a wide boulevard in central Madrid leading from Plaza de Cibeles to Plaza de Colón. From west to east it consists of: Two southward lanes The pedestrian walk A southward bus lane Three southward lanes Three northward lanes A median strip lined with trees, flowerbeds, etc. Two northward lanes A northward Bus lane.

Wax Museum of Madrid

museum

The Madrid Wax Museum (Spanish: Museo de cera de Madrid) is a wax museum located in Plaza de Colón in Madrid, Spain.

Palacio del Duque de Uceda (Plaza de Colón)

event

The Palacio del Duque de Uceda, also known as Palacio de los Duques de Medinaceli was a palace located in Plaza de Colón in Madrid. This palace had two floors and superior body with slate roofing with elegant mansards, was built in 1864 by the Puerto Rican architect Mariano Andrés Avenoza, in a large site along the Plaza de Colón, between the Paseo de Recoletos and Calle de Génova. It was the palace first property of the Duke of Uceda, to be acquired in 1876 by the Marquis of Salamanca, without ever living in it, and later, around 1890 it was purchased by Doña Ángela Pérez de Barradas y Bernuy, widow Duchess of Medinaceli, plus Duchess of Denia y Tarifa.