Museo Legado Valeriano Salas

About the museum

The museum occupies the cloister of the former San Francisco convent in Béjar and holds the bequest of Valeriano Salas, which his widow, María Antonia Tellechea, donated to the town in 1966. Salas was director of the Revista Geográfica Española, a restless traveller and photographer. His journeys through Europe, Africa, Japan, India and Iran allowed him to assemble an important art collection, later enlarged with some additions.

The display includes around 250 pieces: miniatures, porcelain, prints, paintings, sculptures and codices. It is organised into sections on European painting, 19th-century Spanish painting, European manufactures and Oriental art. In the first room are works from the Dutch, Flemish, French and German schools, from the 16th to the 19th century. Limoges enamels, Sèvres porcelain, ivories and embroideries form the finest of the decorative arts, and the Oriental art collection, with illuminated manuscripts of Persian and Indian origin, is one of the most important in the region.

The museum consists of three rooms: one devoted to painting, another arranged as a collector's cabinet, and a third with a 19th-century apothecary (botica). Since 2022 it has also hosted the exhibition “La máquina del tiempo. Relojes con vida” (The Time Machine. Clocks with Life), with 313 clocks from the collection donated by the Béjar resident José Ángel Reig.

Highlights

• Valeriano Salas bequest: around 250 works
• Dutch and Flemish painting from the 16th and 17th centuries
• Oriental art with Persian and Indian illuminated manuscripts
• Limoges enamels and Sèvres porcelain
• 19th-century apothecary (botica)
• “La máquina del tiempo. Relojes con vida”: 313 clocks

Permanent exhibitions

• Legado Valeriano Salas – European painting, decorative arts and Oriental art assembled by Valeriano Salas, in three rooms of the convent cloister.
• La máquina del tiempo. Relojes con vida – Display of 313 clocks from the collection donated by José Ángel Reig, shown in the museum since 2022.

Operated by

Ayuntamiento de Béjar

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Wednesdays: free admission.

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Amenities & dining

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