Access to the collections

The collections belong to everyone

The Museum and its collections belong to everyone. They are state-owned assets in the public domain and form part of Spanish Historical Heritage. The museum’s staff are simply the people in charge of looking after them, explaining their value and facilitating access to them. At the same time, when someone wants to see property that is not on display, or when a case arises that would involve a person coming into direct contact with an artefact and/or handling it for documentation and study, we must ensure that such access is justified, orderly and carried out in conditions that ensure the object’s preservation and integrity, as well as respecting our limited resources and spatial limitations. However, with these caveats, we will always respond to any requests from duly accredited researchers or professionals in the field of Cultural Heritage that we receive, receiving no compensation of any kind, before or after.

The same principle applies to access information about collections held in the museum's archives or databases that is not published or available online. We suggest, for your convenience, that you always visit the museum's online catalogue before contacting us. This may be able to answer many of your questions. If this is not the case, please write to us at: documentacion.mna@cultura.gob.es . If possible, in order to save you time and effort, we will send you the information you are seeking via e-mail. In turn, this communication channel will help us to put you in contact with the member of museum staff who can best meet your needs. If, in the end, you must visit us, this will also allow you to schedule the appointment, especially if your visit requires combining access to the collections with a visit to the library and/or the archive.

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