“Exotic wonders” and unpublished courtroom materials, the dedication of the Gallery of Royal Collections for 2026 | Culture | EUROtoday

Since its creation in 2023, the Royal Collections Gallery has strived to show never-before-exposed items of the large creative assortment – greater than 160,000 works and objects – that National Heritage, on whom it relies upon, safeguards. There is all the things: work, sculptures, carriages, musical devices, furnishings, weapons, tapestries and toys. But additionally stranger items that occupied a central place within the historical past of the monarchy: cutting-edge scientific objects of the time, stuffed animals or works with distinctive themes – resembling a uncommon and unknown canvas of a deer antler attributed to Velázquez. They are, explains Víctor Cageao, director of the gallery, “exotic wonders” that this 12 months will star in one of many two large-format short-term exhibitions that can articulate the exhibition 12 months that the gallery offered this Thursday.

“They are things that are as spectacular as they are strange, unusual and that reveal the capacity of cultural objects to continue surprising the public,” Cageao stated within the presentation. Before this pattern of fantastic which is able to open in December, the gallery will current in June Weaving courtly life, with greater than 200 materials, embroideries, trimmings and courtroom laces, which is among the most related collections of historic textiles on the planet. “Pieces,” stated the director, “that not only tell us the richness and extraordinary wonder of this section, but also how through these fabrics the proper space and atmosphere of the monarchy was shaped.”

With these two large bets – of which no additional particulars have been supplied – the director of the Gallery, who took workplace final 12 months, goals to “strengthen the programming so that everyone always finds new things and exhibits things never seen before.” The nonetheless very younger museum faces 2026 with the problem of bettering its nationwide projection and its presence within the cultural lifetime of Madrid. The monumental constructing, considerably hidden behind the Almudena Cathedral, acquired 741,589 guests in 2025, 14.4% greater than the earlier 12 months. Data that for Cageao usually are not “fundamental”, however that fulfill him. “We do not aspire to anything more than to offer an extraordinary program. It is a museum that has to be a reference in Madrid, it can help explain how other institutions were configured. But we are happy because the response, in our opinion, has been very good. In just two years, thanks to the work of the entire National Heritage team, we have managed to consolidate a stable and dynamic program, with an excellent reception from the public and professionals in the sector,” he famous.

One of the axes of the museum challenge that he inherited, and that he maintains, is the rotation of the works. Last 12 months alone they eliminated 140 items from their everlasting assortment and added 148 new ones. “Rotation is basic in a gallery like this,” stated the director, “this cannot be understood as a museum that is nourished at the expense of the Royal Sites, so there is a back and forth.” In addition, the adjustments enable for “constant restoration work.” The 715 works exhibited at this time can have three visitors from exterior establishments this 12 months. The most related, a portrait of Philip IV, by Velázquez, which is able to arrive subsequent October from the National Gallery in London, the place it has not left in additional than 20 years. You also can see a piece by Gaspar Becerra, from the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia and a Rubens from the Casa de Alba Foundation.

Clocks, topography and modern pictures

As a complement to the 2 giant exhibitions, the Gallery will even current, as they did final 12 months, another smaller ones. There shall be two monographs, the primary devoted to one of many nice masters of topographic illustration of his time, the Italian artist Fernando Brambila (1763-1834). He was commissioned by Fernando VI, in 1822, to signify all of the Royal Sites, a few of which have already disappeared, such because the Royal Spa of Solán de Cabras or the Royal Site of La Moncloa. “Thanks to him we know what La Granja, Aranjuez, or the Prado Museum were like at the time,” says the director. And one other, titled Miniatures from the Royal Collectionswith the little-known assortment of small codecs —“A special technique that was developed from the 5th or 6th century,” remembers Cageao—.

In March the nineteenth century clock assortment shall be exhibited acquired by Ferdinand VII and his daughter Isabel II, with little-known items, and in autumn the one devoted to the Art of Savingwith instances, chests, packing containers and chests made of various supplies. And the very last thing on the annual menu: the third version of Alterationscoinciding with the Gallery’s anniversary, a brand new collaboration with PHotoESPAÑA that this 12 months can have a piece by Isabel Muñoz concerning the El Escorial monastery. “He is right now beginning his reflection on El Escorial, and he has asked us for a lot of information,” stated Cageao.