I wouldn't call this museum a must see, but it is an excellent history museum with some fabulous…read moreart. The history of Madrid is largely told by art, but also maps, sketches models, artifacts, and eventually at the top, photographs. The history ends at industrialization, maybe because that's all they had room for. The grounds and entrance are picturesque. We went on a free day, but it's worth the regular admission. One to two hours, you could easily visit here and the nearby Romantic Museum in an afternoon. A good choice for after the three days of the Golden Triangle of big Madrid art museums. The neighborhood has lots of cafes, pastry shops, affordable dining, bookstores, and Michalin star restaurants so maybe make an afternoon and evening of the Chambri area. If you are staying nearby I think this is a must see stop. Very close to Hotel Sardinero and the Tribunal Metro stop.

Inside the 17th century building of an old orphanage, the Madrid History Museum is free for all…read more Walk inside and staff will direct you where to start. Over the course of three floors, the permanent collection gives a good history of the city of Madrid from the 16th century on. One fascinating exhibit is the map of Madrid from the 1500s on and how it grew from a small villa to a large capital. There are clean restrooms, places to sit, and a good gift shop.

Beautiful beautiful rooms and collections Rudest staff of…read moreall time tho Line up early to avoid waiting, otherwise it would be like hours of wait

There was a bit of a wait like an hour or so. We waited in line for at least 1.5 hrs. We spent 3-4…read morehrs and leisurely walked around. I would say if you're a fan of art and old mansions, this would be for you. However, if you have a short attention span and walk very fast through each room, then this place is not for you. Cost was like 3 euros. Madrid is a walkable city so we just walked over here no Uber. Employees were nice and helpful as long as you respect the place.

The palace is absolutely beautiful, but it's currently fully under construction. You aren't able to…read moreenter and there's a lot of scaffolding blocking the beautiful views of the large glass windows.

I walked here from the Museo Nacional del Prado on nice warm summer day. While it was a nice…read morestroll, it was long and it got hot! So, upon arrival to this crystal palace, we were already hot and when entering, it was even hotter! To be honest, was it worth the long walk? Probably not, but if your sole activity of the day is to just explore El Retiro Park, then definitely make your way here to enjoy it's beauty.

This is one of the coolest museums I've ever been in. You're transported back in time, and I am…read moreobsessed with all the clocks, settees, and poufs all over. The colors. The colors!!!!!! I need an emerald green couch now STAT. I'm obsessed. There's no other word for it. My colleague told me to go here and I'm soooo glad she did or I'd have missed out on seeing all this amazing furniture. You think you're on a Bridgerton set, I swear. It's a smaller museum and takes about an hour, if was only a 3€ admission too, and it's so so so worth it! Go go go go go!

Pleasant little museum worth an hour visit in a historic restored house on beautiful grounds…read more Paintings and artifats from late Rennaisance to Victorian Age, its focus is on the Romantic Period, hence the name. It's much easier than the Golden Triangle of Madrid art museums, so it's good on an afternoon jaunt into the Chambri area where you'll find the Madrid history museum right nearby, the Mercado Barcelo and other shops, cafes, restaurants so you can make a whole afternoon of it. Not too from here are the Sorollo museum, the Real Madrid stadium, and a few (!) Michelin star restaurants. This museum is right off the Tribunal metro stop. If you're staying nearby, like at Hotel Saldinero, well then you really should stop by and take a gander. Don't miss the big doll house with the tiny dancer holograms.

I love history and museums. However, I am not a huge fan of prehistory. I can't get fully onboard…read morewith the objectivity of such subjective items. Nevertheless, this was a good experience and our tour guide made it even better. The museum is packed with objects, most of which are authentic and not replicas. There are even some objects that are on display that are known fakes. There story behind them and how the museum acquired such objects is interesting. The best part was the digital display that overlays a topographical map of the Iberian peninsula. It tells the story of the Iberian migration of peoples over the centuries. Overall, not a bad museum, kind of boring in some areas but still a good experience.

One of the finest archeology museums anywhere. Every artificact here is from the Iberian…read morepenninsula or excavated by Spanish Archeologists. Good explanations from either physical or cultural anthropology, very up to date information on the evolution of humans. The descriptions and explanations are truly excellent. If you start downstairs you can work your way up in time from milliions of years ago to early modernity. Check for free concerts and lectures, I saw an interesting and talented saxophone quartet in the evening.

I do not understand how the naval museum has only 25 reviews so hi! Let me tell you why you need to…read morevisit here: The museum is donation based, I gave 5€ because history. It's not as big of a museum as you might think walking in because when you think Spanish navy, you think armada, and so I was thinking it'd be in a bigger space than it is, but what space it is in, it's crammed full of artifacts and history. I loved seeing all the old flags and cannonry, it's definitely something you need to see if you're a history lover like me. The gift shop has some cute ornaments inside it too, def be sure to check those out!

Loved it. But, then, I love all military museums. The…read moreSpanish are very proud of their naval history. There are myriad models ranging from 200 years old to yesterday. It was not crowded. €6 for 2

I enjoyed everything about this museum! It's so well curated and organized beautifully! Admission…read moreis free on Sundays. I went when it was nice and quiet, there were only a few people in the museum. They have stunning pieces from different decades and interesting props to make the clothes pop more in the showcases. My only downside was this museum was very dark. However, I think this is necessary for the preservation of the fabrics. The grounds are beautiful as well and they have a nice cafe where you can have a bite to eat. This place makes for a nice day out to a lesser known museum in Madrid!

Everyone has different opinions right? Well for me, I very much enjoyed this museum…read more First things first: - Yes you can indeed finish this museum in 10 minutes. It's one floor, one circle. - hey, did you know that you can see this entire museum on their website? You can take "a virtual tour" and walk through the entire museum. - so it's free online! - it's free Sundays. It's free Saturdays after 2:30pm - it's also free on certain days, like World Heritage Day (April 18, 2015, which was when I visited) okay that's actually a million things first. ========= Here's why I enjoyed it ========= The museum kept true to the Spanish culture and history. Sure, France and Italy started much of the country's fashion influences, the museum emphasizes on the SPANISH history -how they dressed, how they were influenced, what they kept from the Spanish ancestors, what they added from the French, etc. The museum organizes its collection from earliest to today's fashion (2015). It's like a history book with lots of pictures!! I love history books with lots of pictures!! (because I fall asleep reading textbooks) The museum included old furniture and accessories relating to dressing, ex. mirrors, drawers, even fashion dolls. Fun fact: how did fashion magazines start? Fashion designers created mini mannequins with beautiful clothes and sent them to the rich people. By mannequin, I'm talking about vintage dollies. With vintage clothing on. This was what the rich people received as their "catalog"!!! The poor people received sketches and papers. Well... the rich people ALSO received these papers. So as more catalogs and sketches were produced, and more people want to know what other people were wearing, and they wanted to know what people in other countries were wearing.... these fashion sketches became very popular. Fashion sketches became fashion magazines. What happened to men fashion??? Well men were into business and etc. so they just dressed professionally (and blandly). Women need to look good. The more extravagant they look, the richer the husband pretends to be. And all of this I learned here at the museum because the information is bilingual!! Yay!!! There are leaflets in each section/room that tells you the name and dates of what you're looking at. Eventually the dates look like numbers (uhhhh 1930s.. 1920s...) to me. But for the first half of the museum, I was like, "ZOMG THIS IS ##### YEARS AGO!" For the 10 minutes that most people could finish this museum, I stayed here for 2 hours reading every single (English) description. Like a book. ========= So it's up to you ========= I like learning about how we evolved from day 0 to year 2015. So this was a great museum, I loved it to bits. I couldn't work their old computers though, it's all in Spanish and the rolling ball mouse is weird. ========= Atmosphere and venue ========= I visited on the Saturday morning and it was very quiet. There was a tour group ahead of me, but they weren't loud. A security person patrols these rooms very often. During my visit, there was an exhibition!!! An exhibition of old printed fabrics, very elegant. The exhibition room is very small. Hopefully your visit features an exhibition too! The museum is located in a quiet area with trees and nature and this small body of water. So it was a peaceful Saturday morning for me, thank goodness. Can't deal with crowds. The museum is comfortable to walk around in, it's dark (to preserve the fabrics), but spacious. Neatly displayed and never overwhelming. I hate when museums display the artifacts like, "Ha, look at me! Look at all these things I have!!" and it's mess!! Not this museum :) so I'm happy I visited.

2.5 stars I really…read morewish I'd known ahead of time that nothing here was written in English. It seems like a cool collection with lots of historical explanations that I could only vaguely follow. It's probably worth a trip if you speak Spanish, but it's definitely not worth it if you don't.

This is a good museum (Spanish only other than a short English guide) that in a sparcly attended…read morebuilding documents one of the greatest conquests and destructive processes in human history. While they couldn't call it the "Museum of the Conquest" that is the topic here. While the treatment of native people is acceptable the critical edge of the avarice and greed of the Conquistadors seems subdued but what to expect from a museum in Spain - the country that took so much silver and gold and much more from Mexico, Central, and South America. For perspective it is worth visiting.