Archaeological and Palaeontological Museum of the Community of Madrid

On Plaza de las Bernardas, in the former Dominican college-convent of the Madre de Dios, the regional museum tells the history of Madrid from palaeontology and prehistory to the Modern Age, with the mosaics of Complutum as its star pieces. Entry is free and there is a free guided tour every day it is open. It is the best card to play for a rainy morning with children.

Hours and entry

It opens Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 19:00 and on Sundays and public holidays from 11:00 to 15:00; closed on Mondays. Admission is free. According to the November 2026 timetable leaflet of the Tourist Office, the free guided tour, in Spanish, runs Tuesday to Friday at 11:00 and 12:15; on Saturdays at 11:30, 13:00, 16:00 and 17:00, and on Sundays and public holidays at 11:30 and 13:00. The museum can be reached on 91 879 66 66.

What you see

The permanent exhibition is a chronological journey in eight periods: before humanity, the first inhabitants, the first producers, Hispano-Roman reality, medieval Madrid, the Madrid of the court and a garden of antiquities with an altar dedicated to Mars. Each stage has its standout piece, such as the Carolinas vase, a bell-beaker bowl, a small Roman hoard or a bust of Godoy. The Roman collection, with the mosaics as protagonists, is one of the museum's most important, and in 2012 the Titulcia patera was added, a ritual bowl found in recent excavations.

The renovated Emiliano Aguirre Palaeontology Room shows that the region had a fauna comparable to that of the African savannahs: there are skeletons of mastodons and Miocene fossils from Cerro de los Batallones, in Torrejón de Velasco, a world-reference site, with landscape illustrations by Mauricio Antón.

Current exhibitions

From 5 November 2026 to 12 September 2027, Visigoths in Madrid tells of the social, economic and cultural changes of that era in the region. Sabre teeth, devoted to these predators of the past, has been extended to 31 January 2027.

The building

The convent was founded in 1565 by María de Mendoza, daughter of the counts of Mélito, inside the university city; what you see is mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries. In December 1808 Napoleonic troops expelled the friars and used it as a cavalry barracks. After the confiscation of church property in 1835 it passed to the City Council and the convent part was a prison until 1951. The church doorway was moved from Plaza de las Bernardas to Calle Santiago.

Nearby

On the same Plaza de las Bernardas is the San Bernardo monastery, visited with the ticket for the Magistral Cathedral. To see the mosaics in place, the Roman city of Complutum is on the outskirts. And also in the centre, the Escolapias staircase opens at weekends by reservation.