Apart from the symbolic masterpiece Guernica, painted by Picasso in 1937 and, after 41 years of exile, now back on Spanish soil, this Art Centre presents a very complete picture of the particularly dynamic and innovative 20C Spanish art. From Cubism (with Juan Gris) to Surrealism (Miró, Julio González, Dalí) and from abstraction (Palazuelo, Saura, Tàpies) to figurative (Equipo Cronica, Antonio López Garcia), Spain has continued to produce major artists.

A fine well-read person and an art lover, the Marquis of Cerralbo had the good taste to bequeath his collections to the Spanish State on his death. Housed in a small late 19C palace, they include many pictures (mostly Spanish), furniture, fans, armour and personal souvenirs belonging to the late Marquis.

The peaceful, irregular-shaped Straw Square was, together with the Plaza de los Carros (Wagons), the commercial heart of medieval Madrid. It is lined with palaces and monuments from the 16C and 17C, such as the Vargas Palace which houses the gothic Bishop's Chapel adjacent to St. Andrew's Church. To see this, however, you must go to the Plaza de los Carros where you will also find the Saint Isidore Museum with its beautiful Renaissance courtyard.

The gallery is 54m-long and richly decorated with shelving designed by Herrera, made from exotic woods, as well as a sumptuous ceiling painted by Tibaldi. Felipe II furnished the library with over 10 000 books, but many were lost in a fire in 1671 and during the Napoleonic wars. Today the library owns over 40 000 books, displayed with the spine facing inwards for preservation purposes, and some 27 000 manuscripts ranging from the 5C to the 18C. In central display cases standing on marble tables are precious manuscripts, including an 11C Beatus.