Retiro

Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

Calle Montalbán, 12, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors

Nativity scenes from the Luis Garrido & Luciano Ruano collection.

13 December - 13 January

Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 am to 3 pm. Sundays and holidays from 10 am to 3 pm.

Every Thursday, and on 21, 27 and 28 December from 5 to 8 pm.

Closed 24, 25, 31 December and 1 and 6 January.

As usual at Christmas, we invite you to walk along the road to Bethlehem. This year, we will do it through the nativity scenes from the Luis Garrido & Luciano Ruano Collection. Luciano Ruano practised painting and especially drawing. Luis Garrido was an outstanding tapestry artist and we dedicated an exhibition to his work in 2020. Trained as a draughtsman and painter, he was a member of Estampa Popular (prints for the people), a network of artistic groups that began in 1959 and which, from an anti-Franco perspective, sought to bring art and culture to society as a whole, using the technique of engraving to create affordable art. To achieve this, its members took a particular interest in the world of ordinary people’s lives, which was such an important source of inspiration for Spanish modernists. This interest is reflected in the collection of Garrido and Ruano.

Over the years, the two assembled a large collection of nativity scenes from Spain and the rest of the world, a diverse collection from which we have selected a few pieces. The Spanish ones include the folk nativity scenes from Murcia and Mallorca and others by authors such as Arcadio Blasco or renowned designers, such as the Castells house. The exhibition is completed with examples from the rest of Europe, from countries with an important tradition of nativity scenes, such as Italy and Portugal, and other places, such as the United Kingdom, Poland, and Russia.

Sala de Exposiciones Maruja Mallo

Plaza Daoiz y Velarde

Christmas Nativity Scene.

5 December to 8 January, 10 am to 8 pm.

Hebrew-style artistic nativity scene, 5 × 3 sq. m, with handmade clay figures by renowned Spanish sculptors.

Buen Retiro Gardens

Montaña Artificial (Artificial Mountain)

Paseo Duque de Fernán Núñez

29 November to 12 January. 11 am to 1 pm and 6 to 8 pm.

Angelicum: The Splendour of the Neapolitan Nativity Scene

The Neapolitan nativity scene on display consists of more than two hundred figures, nearly three hundred accessories and specially created architecture and scenery. It is one of Spain's largest and most fascinating, combining historical pieces with others from contemporary Neapolitan artists and craftsmen.

This nativity scene belongs to the Basanta-Martin Collection, one of the most important of its kind in the world. It was started in 1977 and is continually being expanded and enriched. Assembled by Mayo Taller de Arte.

Now, 260 years after Spain’s King Charles III installed the last Neapolitan nativity scene in the Buen Retiro Palace, this universal archetypal nativity scene returns to this intimate location.