Museo de Valladolid

About the museum

The Museo de Valladolid originates in the Archaeological Gallery created in 1875 within the Museo de Bellas Artes, which was housed in the Colegio de Santa Cruz. In 1879 the gallery became the Museo Provincial de Antigüedades. In 1940 the then Archaeological Museum renewed its facilities and was incorporated into the University as a teaching service. In 1968 it moved to its present seat, the Palacio de Fabio Nelli, and in 1987 the State transferred its management to the Community of Castile and León. Today the museum holds the materials excavated in archaeological works across the province.

The palace is one of the great late 16th-century Renaissance townhouses in the city, the work of Pedro Mazuecos the Younger for Fabio Nelli de Espinosa. Its façade has two projecting towers and a stone portal conceived as two superimposed triumphal arches, topped by the coat of arms of the Marquis of La Vega. The courtyard, designed by Francisco de la Maza, has three porticoed sides with two orders of arches, and the cloister staircase retains a walnut coffered ceiling. After the Nelli line died out, the building served as a store for French troops, an office of the customs house and a tenement building before becoming a museum.

The permanent exhibition is divided into Archaeology and Fine Arts. The first covers Prehistory, the Iron Age with the Vaccaean city of Pintia, the Roman period with mosaics and the tessera hospitalis from Montealegre de Campos, and the Visigothic and early medieval periods. The second brings together panel painting, decorative arts, goldwork and ceramics, and ends with a selection of pieces from the history of the city.

Highlights

• Bell Beaker funerary set from Fuente Olmedo (1800–1700 BC)
• Small hoards from Padilla de Duero, from the Vaccaean city of Pintia
• Mosaic of the warriors from the Roman villa of Santa Cruz (Cabezón de Pisuerga)
• Roman bust from Medina de Rioseco
• Tessera hospitalis from Montealegre de Campos
• Renaissance palace of Fabio Nelli

Permanent exhibitions

• Arqueología – Route from Prehistory to the Visigothic and early medieval period, with rooms devoted to the Iron Age and to Pintia, and to the Roman period with mosaics and sculptures.
• Bellas Artes e historia de la ciudad – Panel painting, decorative arts, goldwork and ceramics, and a selection of pieces on the history of Valladolid, such as the supposed sword of Count Ansúrez or the Devil's Armchair (Sillón del Diablo).

Founded

1879

Operated by

Junta de Castilla y León (titularidad estatal)

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Saturdays, Sundays and national or regional public holidays, 23 April, 9 May, 18 May, 12 October and 6 December.

Admission to the permanent exhibition costs €1. In addition to the groups listed, the following enter free with accreditation: unemployed people, teachers, tour guides, volunteers, ICOM members, members of the Friends of the Museum association and holders of the 60 CyL card, among others. Foreign legal residents of the European Union have the same arrangement.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

The museum organises children's workshops, such as the Christmas workshop “Cazadores prehistóricos de Cabezón” (Prehistoric hunters of Cabezón).

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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