For centuries the kings of Spain bought, commissioned and received as gifts paintings, tapestries, armour, carriages and jewels. Part of those collections ended up at the Prado; the rest stayed in the royal palaces and monasteries. Since 28 June 2023 you can see a selection of that rest in a single building, next to the Royal Palace: the Galería de las Colecciones Reales, the Royal Collections Gallery.

From 24 October to 8 November 2026 the Gallery is closed for the Ibero-American summit of heads of state. On other days the ticket costs 14 euros, and from Monday to Thursday, 18:00-20:00, citizens of the European Union and Latin America get in free.

Why is it called a «gallery» and not a museum?

Because the works are not its own and do not stay: they belong to the royal palaces and monasteries, from which they arrive in rotation, and all of them are run by the same public body, Patrimonio Nacional. That is exactly why the name changed: in the plans it was the Museo de Colecciones Reales.

The works I mention below are ones the Gallery has shown. If there is one you want to see, check on the website before you go that it is still on display.

A building inside the hill

If you arrive from the cuesta de la Vega, you see a long, pale wall marked out by granite pillars. The building steps down the slope between the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral, and the galleries lie below the level of the square: the visit is a descent.

the façade of the royal collections gallery seen from the cuesta de la vega, a long pale wall marked out by vertical pillars, with a low brick wall and a tree with autumn leaves in the foreground

The idea dates from 1998. The 2002 competition was won by the architects Emilio Tuñón and Luis Moreno Mansilla; work began in 2006 and dragged on because of archaeological finds. The cost rose from the planned 60 million euros to 154.8. The building was handed over in December 2015, but it took almost eight more years to open it to the public.

You go down level by level: the Habsburgs on the first floor below the square, the Bourbons on the second, temporary exhibitions on the third.

The Habsburgs

This is the floor of the medieval kings and the Habsburgs, the dynasty of Charles V and Philip II. Works shown here have included the polyptych of Isabella the Catholic painted by Juan de Flandes, Caravaggio’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist and armour from the Real Armería.

a long room in the royal collections gallery, with a pale beamed ceiling, portraits, tapestries and landscapes on dark walls, display cases with armour and velazquez’s white horse at the far end

At the far end of the room in the photograph, if you look carefully, there is a rearing white horse, saddled, with nobody on its back.

Why a horse without a rider?

Because it was, in all likelihood, a preparatory work. Velázquez painted the White Horse around 1635: the horse is there, with saddle and bridle, the rider is not.

the white horse by velazquez, a rearing white horse seen from behind, with a reddish saddle cloth and a bridle but no rider, against a dark background

The Bourbons

On the floor below, the court changes its taste. Watteau, a pastel by Lorenzo Tiepolo and Goya have all been shown here, Goya with his portraits of the royal family and the tapestries woven from his cartoons.

a room in the royal collections gallery with two royal portraits by goya on the walls, a lady in a white dress and a king in a red coat with a blue sash, and on either side two models of small temples in marble and gilded bronze

The walls of Islamic Madrid

What came to light when they dug the Gallery’s foundations?

A stretch of the walls of Islamic Madrid, from the 9th century. It was kept inside the building, and you come across it along the route of the visit.

a stretch of the islamic walls of madrid in the park below almudena cathedral, with the dome and apse of the cathedral in the background and the grey block of the gallery on the left

You can see another stretch for free in the open air, a few steps away, in the Emir Mohamed I park below the cathedral. The photograph shows that one, with the Gallery on the left.

Practical information

Details checked on 30 October 2026 on the official ticketing website of Patrimonio Nacional and on the Gallery’s website. Prices and opening hours change: check again before you travel.

TicketsA full-price ticket costs 14 euros. The reduced ticket costs 7 euros and is for children aged 5 to 16, visitors over 65 and students up to 25. The combined ticket with the Royal Palace costs 24 euros. On Tiqets you will find the ticket to the Royal Collections Gallery, with a digital PDF guide to the royal sites.
Opening hoursThe Gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10:00-20:00, Sundays and public holidays 10:00-19:00. The building is cleared a quarter of an hour before closing.
ClosuresThe Gallery is closed from 24 October to 8 November 2026. It is also closed on 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 25 December; on 24 and 31 December it closes at 15:00. It can close for official events.
Free admissionFrom Monday to Thursday, 18:00-20:00, citizens of the European Union, residents and citizens of Latin America get in free, with an ID document; free tickets are sold only at the ticket office. Children under 5, members of large families, teachers, the unemployed and people with a disability of 33% or more always get in free; on 12 October entry is free for everyone.
Getting thereThe entrance is on calle Bailén, next to the viewpoint between the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral. The nearest metro station is Ópera, on lines 2 and 5.
How long it takesThe Gallery suggests a visit of about two hours.
BookThe Royal Collections GalleryBook the Royal CollectionsAffiliate links

To see a royal collection that has stayed where it was, there is Philip II’s El Escorial, fifty kilometres away. Many of the works bought by the kings are at the Prado. And the Gallery pairs well with the Royal Palace, next door, also with the combined ticket.

Photographs from Wikimedia Commons: the façade, by Esmailizi, CC0; the Habsburg room, by HMUHH, CC BY-SA 4.0; the room with the Goyas, by Gerda Arendt, CC0; the Islamic walls, by Riozujar, CC BY-SA 4.0; Velázquez’s White Horse is a public domain reproduction.