MAN Museo Arqueologico Nacional
Frade Arquitectos renovated and remodeled the Museo Arqueologico Nacional of Spain.
Architect:
Frade Arquitectos
Client:
Ministerio de Cultura de España
Location:
Madrid
Year:
2014
The new MAN in Madrid joins the olympus of the Spanish capital’s cultural references.
The new National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid has gained back the identity of the 19th century edifice that had been built by Francisco Jareño, while taking on the personality pertaining to a bona fide contemporary museum, thereby joining the olympus of the Spanish capital’s cultural references. The successful transformation owes to six years of works and a carefully tackled project of Juan Pablo Rodríguez Frade, who has resorted to an efficient palette of materials: travertine and wood.
The intervention has effectively expanded the institution’s exhibition galleries from 7,000 to 10,000 square meters, facilitated natural lighting, and altered the composition of the entrance in order to enable visitors to follow, as they could never before, a clear-cut chronological route that goes from Paleolithic art to the 19th century through 13,000 archaeological treasures and 20,000 years.
The museum today retains features of the old design but also improves its architectonic value.
The Spanish studio Frade Arquitectos renewed the Museo Arqueologico Nacional in Madrid to improve accessibility, spatial efficiencies, and 10,000 m2 of exhibition areas, all the while retaining elements of the original structure. The neoclassical building was constructed in the 19th century according to a design by the architect Francisco Jareño. The museum today retains features of the old design but also improves its architectonic value in terms of communication and aesthetics. The project respects the old building in architectural terms and develops a new museology design trying to adapt it and link it to both the historical and the new features of the current museum.
The main concept consisted of maintaining the emotional character of the historical building whilst bringing it into harmony with the requirements of a 21st century museum.
The Museo Arqueológico Nacional, founded in 1867 by Queen Isabella II, specialises in historical artefacts from the Iberian peninsula and is supplemented by an Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Islamic collection. The permanent exhibition displays around 13,000 exhibits to the general public. In addition to the Lady of Elche, a copy of the Altamira cave with Stone Age rock paintings and the reconstructed mausoleum of Pozo Moro from the 6th century can also be seen.
The main concept consisted of maintaining the emotional character of the historical building whilst bringing it into harmony with the requirements of a 21st century museum in terms of communication and visual appeal. As a consequence, the recently covered inner courtyards equipped with stairwell towers are used as exhibition spaces, and large-scale objects can now be observed from a variety of angles.
