Naval Museum — Attraction in Madrid

It is an interesting museum, with paintings, comprehensive descriptions and a lot of models of ships of every type and age, along with real scale models of captain and officer's rooms on XIX century ships. I was stricken by one particularity: in spite of illustrating and documenting navigation throughout the ages and specially from the late Middle Age onwards, the museum manages to avoid mentioning Portugal or the outstanding Portuguese navigation school one single time! They even managed to portray the Portuguese traditional work-horse ship - the caravel - as a Venetian ship. Having shared the world (literally, by the Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494, by which the Pope divided the world in two hemispheres, assigning one half to each of the Iberian nations) they carefully avoid a single reference to the other XV century super-power! Elcano is widely mentioned for having circum-navigated the globe while his captain, the world renowned Magellan (Magalhães) is scarcely referred, possibly for being Portuguese. The same goes to Columbus who lived in Portugal since his early youth, learning everything he knew about cartography and sailing in Portugal, and actually being a Portuguese citizen after having married the daughter of an important Portuguese navigator who discovered the Island of Madeira. So, this is what I think is special about this museum: documenting world navigation without ever mentioning the leading sea-going nation in History - Portugal. That's not easy but they have achieved it. Mind you, the museum is rather comprehensive... they even portray a ceremonial Chinese paper-boat... It seems that everyone somehow gets on board, just not their...

As the name of this museum suggests, this museum focuses on ships, more specifically the history of the Spanish navy. While not a particular ship enthusiast myself (nor my family for that matter), we don't regret our decision of spontaneously going in as we passed by. The craftsmanship of many of the ship models are beautiful and done with incredible detail. Don't forget to look up and see the ginormous figureheads from old boats mounted against the wall. If I remember correctly, only the main exhibits had English descriptions, otherwise it was primarily Spanish.

Any bags you may have are scanned before you go upstairs to the entrance of the museum (I believe there was a lift available), and that is because you are free to carry your bags into the museum. Some parts of the museum exhibit is quite cramped so it is probably wise to be careful when walking around with bigger bags.

I am reading here belatedly that the entrance into the museum was actually free, but on the day of my visit the lady at the desk told us the admission fee was 3Euros per person, perhaps because it's just easier to ask for the tiny amount rather than going on this long explanation of...

It was a mixed visit. I enjoyed seeing the few astronomical instruments that they had on display.

They had a lot of very nice model ships but after the first thirty or so, the rest were not as captivating. A couple of big canons were impressive too. The more modern navy didn't impress as much as the historical ones.

It is a naval history museum, and clearly presents a Spanish view of history - but it is surprisingly one-sided.

I saw no hint of acknowledgement for the atrocities that all conquering powers committed - not one. I also found a couple of tone-deaf references to the interactions with "primitive people" who they encountered. Those primitive people were advanced cultures and societies when the Spanish encountered them. One discovered gunpowder before Spain did. And these primitive nations are today's super-powers and the irony is apparently lost on the museum 🙂

A bit too much chest thumping, methinks.

They claim it is a free museum, but immediately they ask for a 3 euro donation. Yeah, no - the great super-power shouldn't have to ask for 3 euro charity for...