Museum of Romanticism

The Museo del Romanticismo, set in a town palace on Calle San Mateo, reconstructs the world of middle-class and aristocratic Spaniards in the age of Isabella II. It grew out of a donation by the Marques de la Vega-Inclan, who opened the Museo Romantico in 1924 to preserve the atmosphere of a 19th-century salon. After a long restoration it reopened as the Museo del Romanticismo in 2009. Around 25 rooms with original wallpapers, pianos, libraries, boudoirs and ballrooms display furniture, fashion, genre painting, miniatures and a rare drawing by Goya. A hidden patio cafe lies in the back courtyard. Visitors plunge briefly into the Spain of Larra and Becquer - intimate, quiet and well off the main Madrid museum trail.