Museum of the Americas

The Museum of the Americas is a national art, archaeology, and ethnography museum in Madrid, Spain. Devoted to the entirety of the American continent from the Paleolithic period to the present day, it holds approximately 25,000 objects. As one of the National Museums of Spain, it operates under the Ministry of Culture. The institution is particularly significant for its pre-Columbian and colonial holdings, possessing one of the most important collections of pre-Columbian art outside of the Americas.

The museum was officially established by decree on April 19, 1941, to consolidate American archaeological and ethnographic artifacts previously housed in the National Archaeological Museum and the Prado Museum. The earliest core of these holdings traces back to the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, founded by Charles III in 1771, which gathered items from early archaeological excavations and scientific expeditions. A devastating fire at the Alcazar of Madrid in 1734 had previously destroyed the royal American collections built by Spanish monarchs and conquistadors, leaving only scattered items like codices and feather miters. After its founding decree, the new museum was provisionally installed in a wing of the National Archaeological Museum, opening on July 13, 1944. It moved to its permanent location in the Ciudad Universitaria in 1962, and the new building was officially inaugurated on October 12, 1965. The museum later closed from 1981 to 1994 for extensive renovations, reopening on October 12, 1994, as the sole occupant of the building.

The collection encompasses art, archaeology, and ethnography from the Americas, with a strong emphasis on pre-Columbian archaeology, colonial art, and ethnographic materials. The initial holdings were drawn from the National Archaeological Museum, incorporating former collections from the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, the Museum of Medals and Antiquities of the National Library, the Escuela Superior Diplomatica, and the Royal Academy of History. The founding decree also brought in collections from the Philippines and Oceania, a small African collection, and roughly a hundred Sami objects donated to the National Archaeological Museum in 1896. The permanent exhibition is organized into five thematic areas: an awareness of the Americas, the reality of the Americas, society, religion, and communication. The best-represented cultures are the central Andean cultures from modern Peru and Bolivia, which account for several thousand pieces.

The museum is renowned for its major collection of 18th-century casta paintings, including a set of 16 large-format works by Miguel Cabrera. The most famous painting in the institution is by Mexican artist Luis de Mena, which uniquely combines the Virgin of Guadalupe and castas on a single canvas. Among its most precious Mesoamerican artifacts is the Codex Tro-Cortesiano, also known as the Madrid Codex, the longest of the four surviving Mayan codices, acquired in two fragments in 1872 and 1888. Aztec culture is represented by the Codex Tudela, acquired in 1948. The museum also holds three monumental stone Mayas heads from Uxmal, the Madrid Stela from the throne of King K'inich Janaab' Pakal I of Palenque, and various ceramic figures from the island of Jaina. Additionally, it preserves the Quimbayas treasure, 123 pieces donated by Colombia after the 1892 Historical-American Exposition, and 86 pre-Columbian pieces from El Salvador bequeathed by diplomat Luis Marinas Otero in 1989.

The museum is located at Avenida de los Reyes Catolicos 6 in the Ciudad Universitaria of Madrid. The building was designed by architects Luis Martinez Feduchi and Luis Moya Blanco, with construction beginning in 1943 and completing in 1954. The architecture employs historicist and neo-colonial styles intended to reflect the missionary and civilizing work of Spain in the Americas. Key architectural features include an arch on the facade, a tower reminiscent of American baroque bell towers, and an interior layout organized around a cloister. The structure is classified as an Asset of Cultural Interest with the category of monument, designated by Decree 474/1962 on March 1.

The Museum of the Americas is a state institution attached to the Spanish Ministry of Culture. It is classified as a historic-artistic monument and operates as a public national museum. In 2023, the institution recorded approximately 75,000 visitors.