Museo Arqueológico de Córdoba

The Museo Arqueológico de Córdoba, formally known as the Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico de Córdoba (MAECO), is an archaeological museum in Córdoba, Spain. Founded in 1868, it is owned by the Spanish State and managed by the Ministry of Culture of the Junta of Andalusia. The museum holds a collection of 33,500 catalogued pieces spanning from Prehistory to the Middle Ages, drawn from Córdoba and its surrounding region, and is recognized as one of the most complete archaeological museums in Spain. Its building and collections were declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1962.

The museum's origins trace to 1844, when archaeological objects from Córdoba's monasteries, confiscated by the Spanish government, were assembled at the Museum of Fine Arts as the Collection of Antiquities. After occupying various city buildings, including the provincial deputation and the Hospital de la Caridad, the Provincial Archaeological Museum was formally created in 1868. For decades it shared premises with the Museum of Fine Arts until their physical separation in 1920, when the archaeological collection moved to Plaza de San Juan and later to a Mudejar house on Calle Velázquez Bosco. During this period, directors including Samuel de los Santos promoted new excavations, inventories, and catalogues. In 1942 the Spanish State purchased the Renaissance Palacio de los Páez de Castillejo as permanent premises; adaptation works lasted from 1945 to 1959 under the directorship of Ana María Vicent Zaragoza (1959-1987), who also established urban archaeological research services, a specialized library, and the scientific journal Corduba Archaeologica. A Royal Decree of 29 February 1984 transferred management from the Spanish State to the regional administration of Andalusia. The museum adopted its current full name in 1994. A museological programme drawn up in 1992 and updated in 1998 laid the groundwork for expansion. An architectural competition for a new annex building was won by Pau Soler Serratosa; construction was completed in 2009, and the annex opened in 2011.

The collection is organized into three principal subgroups: Prehistory and Protohistory; Rome and the Visigothic Culture; and Islam and Mudéjar art. The holdings represent the Iberian, Roman, and Arab periods of Córdoba and its region, reflecting the city's successive cultural layers from antiquity through the Middle Ages.

The museum's most significant feature is its incorporated archaeological site: the remains of the Roman theatre of Colonia Patricia Corduba, discovered on adjacent vacant land alongside late Roman craft workshops and Andalusian medieval houses. These remains are accessible in the basement of the new annex building. The inner courtyard of the original palace building is open to the public during museum hours and displays ancient mosaics and other large antiquities.

The museum occupies two structures on Pl. Jerónimo Páez, a quiet square in Córdoba's old city. The original building is the Palacio de los Páez de Castillejo, a sixteenth-century Renaissance palace purchased by the Spanish State in 1942. Adaptation for museum use took place between 1945 and 1959. The new annex building, designed by Pau Soler Serratosa and completed in 2009, stands beside the palace. Archaeological investigations on the adjoining land revealed the Roman theatre and other stratified remains that are now integrated into the visitor experience. While the new annex currently serves as the primary exhibition space, restoration of the Palacio de los Páez de Castillejo remains ongoing, with the Senate urging government action in April 2017.

The Museo Arqueológico de Córdoba is located at Pl. Jerónimo Páez in the historic centre of Córdoba, Spain. It is owned by the Spanish State and operated by the Ministry of Culture of the Junta of Andalusia. Visitors can access the Roman theatre remains in the basement of the new building and the palace courtyard with its display of ancient mosaics and large antiquities during opening hours. The museum's website is http://www.museosdeandalucia.es/web/museoarqueologicodecordoba.