The art of everyday life: the most beautiful museum in Madrid

If you have already visited the city’s best-known and most important museums, make a point of paying a visit to the National Museum of Decorative Arts. With over 70,000 works of art, including furniture, tapestries, porcelain and other accessories, this little-known museum traces the evolution of materials, techniques and utensils since the 14th century. The enormous collection includes ceramics from Talavera and Teruel, textiles and gold and silverware from the Baroque period, a 19th-century dolls’ house and even the Sèvres jug with which Napoleon III presented Isabella II. In addition to the extensive Spanish heritage, there are also some delicate and precious Chinese pieces. One of the most striking and beautiful corners of the museum is on the fifth floor of the building, in the kitchen of more than 1600 hand-painted Valencian tiles from an 18th century palace. General admission is €3, although on Thursday afternoons, Sundays and Saturdays at midday you can get in for free.

Where: C. Montalbán, 12.