Collections on loan

Hidden collections?

The MNA's collections consist of more than 23,000 objects and documents and 18,000 books and magazines. As in all museums, only a small part of this rich heritage is usually on display in the permanent exhibition rooms. Not only is it physically impossible to exhibit all of the objects we hold, but it would also be overwhelming for museum visitors. Upon entering the museum, they would be transported on a journey into the past, into an overstuffed 'visitable' storeroom ruled by a horror vacui, like an Enlightenment-era cabinet of curiosity or nineteenth-century museum. These spaces collected objects - significant or otherwise - without any standards apparent to the public. In contrast, we are currently exhibiting a selection of pieces that is accessible to the public, made up of what we consider to be the most valuable and interesting pieces. Above all, we seek to display the pieces that serve to tell the story that any permanent (or temporary) exhibition conveys.

In order to display our 'hidden' artefacts, first of all, we facilitate access to them online and through publications; for example, we will soon be launching a series of online catalogues. Secondly, we rotate the exhibits. This also sometimes serves conservation purposes, as is the case with the magnificent and colourful - but very fragile - featherwork ornaments from the Amazon. And thirdly, we have a showcase in which we present a small sample of our stored collections to the public. Its contents rotate every four months, generally in relation to the themes of the temporary exhibitions on display. This is the section we call (In)visible Anthropology. With increasing frequency, we are also organising larger temporary exhibitions within the Museum's more than centuries-old walls to raise the visibility of these objects and read them in new ways.

At the same time, it is also common for us to arrange loans with other institutions that are holding temporary exhibitions. This allows the objects to be taken outside these four walls, affirming our conviction that when the objects travel, they are re-valued and enriched, placed in other contexts of meaning and given a new interpretation by these projects’ organisers. Lending artefacts has been common practice for decades, and we have always been consistent in our commitment to contribute. Every year, we take part in numerous projects, both in Spain and abroad. Now we are also reporting these on this website: if you want to find out about the latest exhibitions in which the museum's collections have been featured, visit the Travelling collections section.

If you are curating a temporary exhibition and would like to find out more about our loan policy and the general conditions we require, as well as the application procedure, please visit the other sub-sections of this area of the website.

See our loan policy for temporary exhibitions