The National Museum of Romanticism (Museo Nacional del Romanticismo) fills a neoclassical palace on Calle de San Mateo, built between 1776 and 1779 by the architect Manuel Rodríguez for the Marquis of Matallana, between the Malasaña and Chueca neighbourhoods. Founded on the collection of the Marquis of la Vega-Inclán and opened in 1924, it recreates the home of a well-off family of the Romantic period, which in Spain matches the reign of Isabella II (1833-1868): ballroom, dining room, oratory, study, children's playroom. More than 18,000 items, paintings, furniture, porcelain, fans, photographs and everyday objects, are shown as in a lived-in house. A visit takes about an hour, and many visitors end it at the café beside the Magnolia Garden. Admission costs 3 €, and the museum is free for everyone until 30 October 2026.
Highlights
The ballroom
This was the most public room of the house, used for balls, literary evenings and concerts. Beneath the chandeliers and the large portraits of the royal family and Madrid society stands a Pleyel grand piano bearing the royal arms, made in Paris and linked to Queen Isabella II.
The dining room
A laid table, porcelain tableware, a crystal chandelier and a painted ceiling: the room shows where the family gathered for dinner, and how the 19th-century middle class entertained. Note the mirrors and gilded consoles that multiply the light of the chandelier.
The oratory and the Goya
The oratory is the palace's original one. It holds "Saint Gregory the Great, Pope", a late 18th-century painting by Goya from a series on the Fathers of the Church, which belonged to the museum's founder.
The costumbrista rooms
A suite of rooms devoted to costumbrismo, the painting of popular types and customs that was fashionable in the Romantic period. Look for the terracotta figurines from Málaga showing the bandit, the bullfighter or the manola, stereotypes of Spain as 19th-century travellers saw it.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Admission is free for everyone until 30 October 2026. After that: general ticket 3 €, reduced 1.50 € (groups of more than 8 people booked in advance, Renfe long-distance or high-speed passengers); free with proof for under-18s, students aged 18 to 25, Carné Joven holders, over-65s, pensioners, jobseekers and disabled visitors with a companion (prices checked in October 2026). Entry is also free for everyone on Saturdays from 14:00, every Sunday, on 18 April, during International Museum Day week in May, on 12 October and on 6 December. Tickets are sold only at the museum's ticket desk, with no online sales. During improvement works on the building, rooms XV (boudoir) to XXI, including the study devoted to the writer Larra, are closed. The garden café (Café del Jardín) can be visited without a museum ticket: Tuesday to Saturday 10:30-19:30 from May to October and 10:30-17:45 from November to April, Sunday 10:00-14:30. The museum is included in the "4 Museos de Madrid" (8 €) and "8 Museos de Madrid" (16 €) passes.
How to get there
Calle de San Mateo, 13, 28004 Madrid. Metro Tribunal (lines 1 and 10) or Alonso Martínez (lines 4, 5 and 10). The step-free entrance for visitors with reduced mobility is on Calle de la Beneficencia.
Opening hours
Nearby
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