{"id":1819,"date":"2018-08-28T09:45:57","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T08:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2018-08-31T12:40:04","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T11:40:04","slug":"literary-museums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/2018\/08\/28\/literary-museums\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary museums"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lope

Lope de Vega House Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

Madrid appears as a character in numerous books. Cases in point would be works by\u00a0<\/strong>Benito P\u00e9rez Gald\u00f3s, Valle-Incl\u00e1n, Hemingway\u2026 <\/strong>Literature has also left its mark on the city, as can easily be seen in places such as Plaza de Espa\u00f1a, with its\u00a0monument to Cervantes,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>or the Plaza de Santa Ana, shared by the sculptures of Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca and Calder\u00f3n de la Barca.<\/strong>\u00a0There are also quite a number of literary museums in Madrid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lope

Lope de Vega House Museum. Studio<\/p><\/div>\n

LOPE DE VEGA HOUSE MUSEUM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

To reach what was once the home of the \u201cPhoenix of Wits\u201d<\/strong> one must delve into the\u00a0Barrio de las Letras (Literary Quarter),<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>a neighbourhood in which the great masters of the Spanish Golden Age, <\/strong>such as <\/strong>Cervantes, Quevedo or Lope de Vega himself, once lived. Lope de Vega spent the last 25 years of his life in this house<\/strong>, in a street that bears the name of his arch enemy, the author of Don Quixote.\u00a0Visits are always guided and free of charge, although it is necessary to register in advance (by calling 914 29 92 16 or by\u00a0email<\/a>). Once inside the house, visitors can see his studio<\/strong> – in which he wrote his mature plays, such as The Dog in the Manger<\/em>, The Knight from Olmedo<\/em>, or Lady Simpleton<\/em> (La Dama Boba<\/em>), the oratory, the dining room, his bedroom, the kitchen… and his little garden,<\/strong> in which he spent many happy hours.<\/p>\n

\"Museum

Museum of the National Library. Hall of Muses<\/p><\/div>\n

MUSEUM OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Located in a majestic building constructed in the 19th century by order of Queen Isabella II, the\u00a0National Library<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>houses within its doors the bibliographic and documentary heritage of Spain. In its interior there is a museum, with a great variety of audio<\/strong>–visual resources<\/strong> that narrate in an enjoyable way the past and present of the institution. It features several rooms, including one dedicated to Writing and its Media, <\/strong>the Hall of Muses,<\/strong> the repository of the most valuable works which change every three months, a room about the Memory of Knowledge,<\/strong> which reviews the history of knowledge since the appearance of codices to that of the Internet, and the Quixote Room<\/strong>, devoted to the works of Cervantes.<\/p>\n

\"Municipal

Municipal Printing House – Book Arts<\/p><\/div>\n

MUNICIPAL PRINTING HOUSE – BOOK ARTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A veritable journey through the history of graphic art<\/strong>, with over 3,000 really surprising works, including such highlights as an exact reproduction of a 16th century printing press<\/strong>, a 1789 rolling press or a 1930 Planeta typography machine. Its objective is to preserve such a necessary asset as artisan printing, hence one of its rooms is dedicated to bookbinding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Museum

Museum of Romanticism. Cabinet<\/p><\/div>\n

MUSEUM OF ROMANTICISM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It may not be entirely dedicated to literature, but could there be anything more literary than the Romantic Movement<\/strong>? The museum is located in a former palace, which reproduces in its halls the ambiences and lifestyles of the wealthy bourgeoisie of the 19th century<\/strong>.\u00a0Strolling through the Ballroom, the Dining Room or the private rooms of the lords and ladies of the house, the visitor can learn about the main protagonists of Spanish Romanticism, including writer and journalist Mariano Jos\u00e9 de Larra. <\/strong>The museum exhibits one of his frock coats, the shirt he was wearing on the day of his death and two small pistols<\/strong>, one of which was supposedly used by Larra to take his own life. Appropriately perhaps, the Satire of Romantic Suicide<\/strong>, by Leonardo Alenza, is one of the paintings that can be admired in the museum. Considered the work that best reflects the idea of the Romantic era, it unswervingly confronts tragedy<\/strong>, drama and everything terrible.<\/p>\n

\"L\u00e1zaro

L\u00e1zaro Galdiano Museum. Former Ballroom<\/p><\/div>\n

L\u00c1ZARO GALDIANO MUSEUM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Palace of Parque Florido <\/strong>in which the museum is located, once belonged to Jos\u00e9 L\u00e1zaro Galdiano,<\/strong>\u00a0who, in addition to being a collector, was the editor of Modern Spain.<\/em>\u00a0Around the end of the 19th century, he published texts by Pardo Baz\u00e1n, Unamuno, Gald\u00f3s and also by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Flaubert<\/strong>, some of which had been translated into Spanish for the first time. In his house, visitors can contemplate jewellery, weapons, paintings, furniture and books that he acquired throughout his life. The Library of the L\u00e1zaro Galdiano Foundation is home to such exceptional treasures as books of hours, several Persian and Mongolian miniatures and a 17th century manuscript of Quevedo\u2019s The Swindler.<\/strong>\u00a0Among the most unique documents that it preserves are letters written<\/strong> by Lope de Vega and Francisco de Goya.<\/strong>\u00a0Although permanent exhibitions are not possible due to the fragility of the paper, the Museum does organise regular exhibitions in which its collection is put on display. Among its paintings, it is worth noting the portrait that Federico Madrazo<\/strong> painted for Gertrudis G\u00f3mez de Avellaneda<\/strong>, a Romantic writer and poet.<\/p>\n

\"Museo

Museo Bar Chicote, as it was in the past (photo: Memoria de Madrid)<\/p><\/div>\n

MUSEO CHICOTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Last but not least\u2026 how about a cocktail in Museo Chicote? That name came about because its founder, Perico Chicote,<\/strong> ended up with a collection of over 25,000 bottles <\/strong>of spirits from all over the world, which he kept in the basement. People were able to visit them free of charge upon request. Many of Hollywood\u2019s brightest stars knocked back a drink (or two) at the bar of the world’s most famous barman, including Ava Gardner, Sofia Loren, Orson Wells and Laurence Olivier. It was also a popular haunt among writers like Hemingway<\/strong>, who <\/strong>used to write his war chronicles here, and Miguel Mihura<\/strong>, who said: \u201cI was born in Madrid because it was as close as I could get to Chicote\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madrid appears as a character in numerous books. Cases in point would be works by\u00a0Benito P\u00e9rez Gald\u00f3s, Valle-Incl\u00e1n, Hemingway\u2026 Literature has also left its mark on the city, as can easily be seen in places such as Plaza de Espa\u00f1a, with its\u00a0monument to Cervantes,\u00a0or the Plaza de Santa Ana, shared by the sculptures of Federico […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[249,168,250,125,252,251,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1832,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions\/1832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.esmadrid.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}